Hi. Moving from a soft water area to a hard water area with my darkroom. Would film and paper take a little longer or same to process. Or would you get an inline water filter.? Thanks Ray
Hi. Moving from a soft water area to a hard water area with my darkroom. Would film and paper take a little longer or same to process. Or would you get an inline water filter.? Thanks Ray
All of this depends on how hard the water is and how good the filter is. In any event, run some tests.
The filter should at least remove "grit". The rest can be dealt with by running tests to adjust development time whether or not you adjust the PH.
Hard water can also sometimes leave calcium etc deposits on you film and prints. Distilled water recommended for film developer and final rinse; and you should have both hot and cold line filters for your print washer, or preferably for your entire darkroom.
If you are using commercially packaged processing chemicals water quality will make no difference (as long as it is clean of course) since they contain sequestering agents for calcium and other metals. When processing film (sometimes paper), using distilled water for a final rinse with wetting agent, after washing, can be helpful.
Originally Posted by jimbobs
Michael - the implications of water "hardness" can vary dramatically, especially in arid parts of the West. In some places, even borates are in the water. And don't assume municipal water is involved. It could be private well water.
Well, borates don’t have anything to do with hardness. Anyway the concentration of borate in any fresh water would be inconsequential.
We have very hard water where I live in NJ. I use distilled water when mixing fixer and for the final rinse before hanging film up to dry. I use the hard tap water for pre-soak, working dilution of developer, stop bath, and in my washer, and have had no problems. However my developing time for pyrocat/HP5 is significantly shorter than the standard recommendations (based on my own testing) and I did read somewhere that the minerals in hard water can impact development times, so I suggest you do some testing before developing anything important.
We have very hard (calcium carbonate) water. We use a water softener to preserve appliances (dishwasher, water heater etc) I use reverse osmosis, purified water for solutions. Softened water uses ion exchange to convert calcium carbonate to sodium carbonate, sodium carbonate messes with developer chemistry.
No easy answer, most black and white chemistry will work with most ordinary tap water.
Just a reminder
DR Trays are cheap and available new
I have up to 20X24 and 3 of those fit inside a used Arkay SS 7' X 30"
There are more available new and in stock than 7 years ago
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...rch=yes&sts=ma
Tin Can
DR water usage varies by COST
Tin Can
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