Heater for Color Processing

[geyes30]

Hi,

I am interested in getting into color processing (both slide and negative). I have been developing my own BW for about 2 years now, so I am familiar with the developing process. However, I have not been able to find a suitable heater that can be used to heat up a water bath for the color chemicals. Does anyone have any good, relatively cheap suggestions? I have heard some aquarium heaters can be 'hacked' to heat past 36 degC. I am based in the US, so the Nova series of heaters will be prohibitively expensive to ship here. Thanks!

[Greg Davis]

I use one these aquarium heaters made by Catalina Aquarium (http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/store/index.php?cPath=42_43), 100W, I think. There is a small rheostat on the plug that allows you to turn up the heater beyond the printed scale. They are pretty cheap, too.

[EASmithV]

Don't need one. The past few days i've been doing E6 with a washtub with holes drilled in it and water from a sink. Even E6 has more room for error than people would leave you to believe. I developed 4 degrees under temp as a test, with no noticeable color shifting to my eye...

[kerne]

I've tempered my water bath for color work on both an electric griddle and an 18qt electric roasting pan. The ones with dials can maintain a low enough temp just fine.

[markbarendt]

An electric hot plate.

Before a Jobo came into my life I picked up a two burner version at WalMart. Used a couple old stock pots filled with water. Worked great and quite accurately.

[johnielvis]

if you have a LARGE enough tray and a table strong enough to hold a bunch of --a large water bath is the thing...very constant temperature and you can goose it up or down if the surrounding temperature is too cold. water holds a lot of heat and you can use all that water as rinse water---bathtub works in a pinch but leveling is a bit of a hassle----just add hot water to it when the temp goes down a half a degree...you'll get the hang of it--a heater is extra electric cords--"tripping hazards" and just get in the way--I like to keep the electricity away from the water---actually a MIXER is better to have than a heater if you don't mind electrical--a circulating pump--adding hot water on one end takes a LONG time to get to the other end--I find that constant swirling and adding water all over that large volume is necessary to distribute the temperature...of course now I haven't done e6 in a while...

[Mike Wilde]

I have a traditional 300W immersion aquarium heater, with the stops removed from the setting dial. I have it wound up to give 38C.

It hangs diagonally with a little suction cup bracket meant to hold it stuck to the inside of a smallish cooler/eskie.

I also have an aqaurium water pump that hangs on the top edge of the cooler to circulate the water in the water bath.

I have used 'duct seal' to keep condensation out of the electrics when I put the lid on this 'cooler', but plasticine from a kids play box would work just as well. Always power such an arrangement from a GFCI/RCD protected outlet.

This is for tempering chemistry and maintaning temperature while processing 35mm or 120/220 on reels in daylight type tanks. For 4x5 I resort to a sink line style of processing with film supported on hangers.

I find it brings chems stored in 1L amber glass bittles from 18C to 38C in under 1.5 hours. I load it up and turn it on after work, and then after the dinner dishes are washed and put away the chemistry is ready to go.