Dark Spots on Negative

Hi everyone, I'm getting dark spots on my negatives. From looking at others who've had this problem, I'm thinking it's water spots?

Attachment 181703
(photo taken through grain focuser)

My process is as follows:
Film: FP4+
Presoak: tap water - 3:00
Developer: Pyrocat HD 1:1:100 (mixed with tap water)
Stop: water stop - 1:00 (tap)
Fix: Kodak Rapid Fixer - 5:00
Wash: Running water - 20:00
Wetting Agent: Photo Flo mixed with distilled water
Drying: Hang dry diagonally to drip from one corner

Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Justin Roxbrough

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I'm thinking it's water spots?
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You answer it correctly Justin, I think.
I do not know how much tap water should be filtered to be used for developing films.
But, distilled water should be free of most if not all of this artifacts.

It looks like debris in the solution.

At a dollar and pennies a gallon, why would you take the chance and use tap water after all the work that went into shlepping equip./setting-up/composing/metering/shooting and then reversing everything to go home???

Those can also be from the film having pin holes of sorts in the negative. Seems to be some sorta defect from the film manufacturer (I saw it on D100 and Tmax, and even Acros) where if you look at the negative you will see lots of small white dots. I was noticing those on film I had developed by a lab and was like wtf! I haven't seen them yet doing my own film. I use distilled water and on ocassion I have used tap water to rinse with no issues, but my water has been thru a water softener first. Make sure all your water is filtered even if it is distilled.

Does this happen on every sheet of film or just certain ones?

I'd try fresh fixer in a new container. Could be chunks of silver from the fixer or it's container.

+1 on "distilled" water, which can be from a store or, better, from a countertop spigot drawing from a reverse osmosis treatment system, usually under the counter. AND
+1 on fresh fixer, my personal experience is that I have seen "gunk" suspended in the fixer and tossed it. So cheap. Make fresh.