# Darkroom question



## mortallis288 (Mar 29, 2007)

alright i am thinking to setup a moveable darkroom in my basement bathroom because nowhere eles down there has electrical outlets. would the developer stain the tub if i pour it down there? and is this a dangerous place to work? i was thinking about cutting out a piece of plywood that would sit down in the bathtub and make a running hose out of rubber piping, there are other places but there is no running water and no electrical outlets so this would be the most convient. and also to develop film do i NEED stopbath or is that just a added step?


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## JamesD (Mar 30, 2007)

They say the bathroom is the most dangerous room in the home.

I've never had a problem with developer staining anything except clothing.  I've spilled it on the linoleum floor in my own closet--err, darkroom--and it mops right up.  However, it's a good idea to pour carefully at the drain with plenty of running water.

Do be careful using electricity around water.  But that's just common sense.

You do not _have_ to have stop bath.  You _can_ rinse in a high volume of running water for 30 seconds.  Developer is alkaline; the stop bath neutralizes its alkalinity, which both stops the development action, and prevents the alkaline developer from changing the PH of the acidic fixer.

Filling the film tank with water (or, for that matter, fixer) will dilute the developer remaining on the surface of the film, which will prevent it from having very much additional development effect.  And a good rinse will remove enough of the residual developer to prevent shortening the life of the fixer.  So, you can use water--lots of people do, and have for years.  Some swear stop bath is just a way for The Man to separate you from money which you could spend on film or other goodies.  Personally, I use stop bath, mainly for consistency.  On the other hand, lots of people use Hypo Clear to speed up the wash; I never have, because I don't (personally) see the need.

Hope that helps!


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## mortallis288 (Mar 30, 2007)

i  have a room that i think might work, it doenst have running water. But i was just worried about the stop bath smelling up that room


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## andatron83 (Jul 7, 2007)

and all this time i have been using fixer, but its good to know its not totally necisary if your tight on cash.


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## ann (Jul 7, 2007)

i hope the above is a typo.
you HAVE TO USE FIXER,

stop bath is an option with film, but should be used when printing unless your using T4 fixer then running water will be fine.

A bottle of stop bath last a long time as it only takes a few drops in a liter of water, but again , running water will stop the development process.


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## deanimator (Jul 9, 2007)

Vinegar works just fine...
Get the clear stuff...check that it´s about 25% acid

Hypoclear is useful cos it speeds up the washing process and saves water costs. For film you normally have to wash with running water for at least 20 minutes, RC papers need only 2 or 3 minutes, but Hypoclear is especially useful if you are printing on fibre-based paper - you normally need 2 hours to be archival, but this can be reduced to 10 or 15 minutes with hypoclear.

err...I´ll "stop" if that´s "clear"


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## newrmdmike (Jul 9, 2007)

GUYS ARE YOU KIDDING, DON"T POUR YOUR CHEMISTRY DOWN THE DRAIN!!!!!!! -  -  - but then where can you properly dispose of it?

developer and fixer are pretty harsh, i'd like to see if you guys all pour your chems down the drain.

about the plywood, if you do that make sure you seal it good, i'm sure some stuff could seep into the wood.


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## JC1220 (Jul 9, 2007)

If you want to do something about the fixer before dumping, simply put some steel wool in the containers for 24 hours, remove it, then dump it.  
Even without this pretreatment fixer will precipitate the silver sulfide before it ever becomes remotely harmful to anything.

*Exhuasted fixer* is much more harmful as it contains complex silver compounds that are difficult to break down.

If you have an understanding of what your darkroom chemicals are, and the amount you dump on a monthly basis, you can than make more informed choices on what do to with the chemicals.  Such as fixer, its main components are fairly harmless and more abundant in other products we use every day and dump down the drain.


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## ann (Jul 9, 2007)

check ilford's website for their recommendations of washing film. It is easy and certainly saves water, and more importantly works fine.

there is no need to use hypoclear with modern films.

washing fiber prints for 2 hours will break down fibers. using a HCA will decrease even the hour that was once thought to be the time necessary for fiber paper to be archival.

Again, check ilfords specs for washing fiber along with their archival processes.


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## deanimator (Jul 9, 2007)

Good reference here

http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Archival/archival.html


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## ann (Jul 9, 2007)

ed's site (the above url) has a lot of great information from a board varitey of sources


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## nealjpage (Jul 9, 2007)

newrmdmike said:


> GUYS ARE YOU KIDDING, DON"T POUR YOUR CHEMISTRY DOWN THE DRAIN!!!!!!! -  -  - but then where can you properly dispose of it?
> 
> developer and fixer are pretty harsh, i'd like to see if you guys all pour your chems down the drain.



I pour my chems down the drain.  Most modern wastewater processing facilities are capable of removing almost _anything_ from the water.  That's why you can dispose anti-freeze down the drain.  And, unless you're a pro lab, the amount of chemicals you're disposing should be pretty small.


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## ksmattfish (Jul 9, 2007)

You don't need the running water to be in the darkroom, it's just convenient.  The chem mixing, and film and print washing can be done in the light.  In the past I converted a few bedrooms into temporary darkrooms, and brought everything into the kitchen when it was time for running water.


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## deanimator (Jul 9, 2007)

Maybe Germany is a bit technologically backward, but over here it´s illegal...they will try to find out WHO put the stuff in the system...and they will find you, and fine you...big time.

Just kidding about them being primitive...you would be hard pressed to find more hi-tech water purification anywhere. I mean...heavy metal poisoning is hard to deal with, and it´s much wiser to take your fixer somewhere if you can. It´s a well known "secret" here...here are enough genetic problems here from the uncontrolled photochemical wastes produced during the GDR times...one of the biggest photochemical producing cities in the world in fact...the land surrounding Bitterfeld turned into a poisoned wasteland...17 years later there are still fenced off areas where no plants can grow and are illegal to enter!


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