Serious concern - water quality

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Black_and_White_Photography : One Thread

I'm pretty sure that my water stinks. The problem is I don't know how to test the quality, the purity of the water, and I don't remember seeing anything in photo stores. I would be testing for silver content, right? How can I do this because I feel I need to immediately. And regarding filters, how small, or sharp, does the filter have to be? They're measure in microns? What are those? Any details on that? I've only seen one filter in a photo store, it was self-cleaning, and easy to attach and I think it was .05 Micron. How can I better understand filters? Sounds like a need a good FAQ.

-- Anonymous, August 10, 1997

Answers

Albert, call your city water quality people and they will tell you what chemical labs can test your water for you. Why would you be testing for silver content in tap water? Are you having problems with silver reduction or deposition on your prints? As for filters, call 1-800 calumet and ask for info on filters from them. They are a major darkroom supplier & can help.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 1997

response to water quality

I don't think that silver in the water is of any concern and is probably present in very minute amounts anyways. The two problems that I have encountered are dirty water and perhaps excess chlorine, which I think was causing some weird blotches on my films. There are alot of in-line tap filters on the market and most of them should take care of both problems provided they contain activated charcoal. They may differ in volume of water they can process so you might want to zero in on those specs, if all they produce is a slow trickle then they wouldn't be much use. If you want to go one step further you can also purchase distilled water and mix all of your chemicals in it and use it as a final bath to rinse off any remaining dirt.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 1997

Moderation questions? read the FAQ