As you know Cronocrator started this project. I just informally named it ;)
Four people are now trying to prove Sea Salt CAN be used as FIXER. Check my previous post (s).
Not any salt. Not table salt. But sea salt in crystals. Those you use in barbecues and steaks, salads etc.
Sea salt has most of Earth's minerals....and.... IS TOTALLY GREEN CAFFENOL!!! HURRAY
Unfortunately there is a correct way of mixing / preparing the Salt Fixer, otherwise it's just water + salt. There's a right temperature! A right dilution, density! A right time!
I'll keep adding info to this post but I feel like I must kick his thing off for now, so that we may, perhaps, find other contributors to the "Project"
First off, you'll need a density of 1.2 or over. That means, in simple words, that the 1L solution must weigh 1.2Kg.
The way you do it is NOT adding 200g of sea salt to 1000g (1L) of water....no....no way. But follow this post and a very easy way of doing it is going to be presented!
Keep in mind that you want to dilute as much salt as possible (at least 1.2 final density). Okay then how you'll do it;
Remember the huge, tall 2L plastic container I bought in my Easter Even shopping post? Here's when we use it, finally ;)
-Add 1/2 Kg of sea salt to the container,
-Add SOME water to it. Say, 700ml for instance.
-Shake it like crazy for some time. Keep shaking, now like a normal person, for a LONG time. Let's say some 5 min. You'll make sure you diluted all the salt you could for those 700ml water. Now one free tip: I warm some water for this first step because it makes diluting the salt easier! Just be careful not to burn yourself.
See the water turns brackish and dense
-Then you add water to top until it makes 1L (32oz.). Now again,,,,do all the shaking for a looong time to make sure you diluted all possible salt for that amount of water, and temperature.
You probably got it, but I'll keep on anyway:
what?? You'll end up with LESS than 1L of water!! YES, that's right....keep reading.
Once you filter to have only the salt water you'll end up with less than a litre, but remember, it's ok since your tank holds about 450ml :)
Actually, you'll end up with 600ml of salt water.....making the perfect density.
Now next. You will want to have one of those coffee filters to pour the water solution but leave the undissolved salt crystals out!
Do this:
-Pour the solution - all of it, including the salt that was not dissolved - into a pan. Maybe the same ou used to warm the water,
-Rinse your tall container, so to wash all grains of salt and crystals left behind,
-Pour the pan contents onto the filter (with the tall container under it, please!:) and repeat until all the pan's solution has being poured into the plastic container.
-Done. You have now Sea Salt Fixer yourself!
Mind that the higher the temperature the quicker you'll fix. So for that solution, 3h is enough if you keep the tmep at about 30-40ºC. I guarantee that by heating and keeping the tank in the stove (be careful to not melt the plastic of the tank. You just want to keep it warm, not hot. A couple min. every 30min is enough to warm the stove)
After fixing, wash the fixer out and rinse the tank many times with tap water.
As a last bit, rinse it with detergent (a smidge) to guarantee a spotless neg!
Welcome to Project Sea Salt Fixer ;)
Cheers!
I will add a table of temp vs. time here and more info.