Developer Oxidisation Prevention - Marbles

[Keith (M)]

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A recommendation that has been around for years and it really works.  I had opened a 500mL bottle of Ilfosol 3 in early April and used about a third of the contents.  Knowing I was unlikely to have the opportunity to use more for quite some time (and having been caught out before by the problem) I rummaged about in the attic and found a bag of glass marbles.  Slowly dropped  them into the bottle until it was brim-full then refitted the cap.  At the time I thought it might be late summer before using it - turned out to be over ten months!  Wanting to develop a roll of 120 FP4+ this week, I had my doubts but looking into the bottle the liquid appeared not to have oxidised so I took the plunge, gave the roll 4 1/2mins instead of the normal 4 minutes and was pleased (relieved!) to find images when I pulled the wet roll off the reel.     Simples!

PS - no, I did not have a canister of inert gas to hand last year...

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[adan]

Thanks for the report....

One just has to be sure not to reuse those particular marbles for training in speaking posh.....

 

[Pyrogallol]

I am sure I was given a bag of photographic marbles, but have just been hunting through the darkroom and can’t find them.

[giannis]

I have another simple method that requires even less materials or effort: use a fizzy drink bottle, or water bottle, everytime some developer is used, squeeze the air out before screwing the cap on. If the volume drops below 500ml and is hard to squeeze, transfer to a smaller half-litre water bottle. As a bonus, when you see the bottle staying squeezed, it's further proof that no air got in. Simple, easy to find everywhere at no cost, and no hassle or cleanup.

Edited February 25, 2021 by giannis
typos