Ruined 2 rolls of Portra 400 last weekend because I used tap water instead of distilled for my final rinse

Jesse Thompson · 2026-10-11T13:30:02.807718+00:00

I got lazy after developing at home in my kitchen in Tucson and just used tap water with a drop of Photo-Flo for the last rinse. Big mistake. The hard water here left white calcium spots all over the negs, and I could see them under a loupe before I even hung them to dry. I rewashed the worst roll in distilled water for 5 minutes and most of the spots came off, but a few frames are still trashed. So now I keep a gallon of distilled in the darkroom at all times. Has anyone figured out a good way to spot-fix dried mineral marks on a negative without wrecking the emulsion?

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Ruined 2 rolls of Portra 400 last weekend because I used tap water instead of distilled for my final rinse | Analog Photo Fixing - HW Forums