Ferric Citrate Varieties

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to find a UK source for Ferric Citrate as opposed to Ammonium Ferric Citrate in order to try the contrast-enhancing VDB formula mentioned by Liam Lawless.

It is not as easy as it seems. Up to now each time I have found a listing for Ferric Citrate it turns out to be, on closer inspection, to be Ammonium Ferric Citrate.

As far as I know there is a distinct difference between the two, and some heavy searching around on the web turned up a source that said they may be told apart from their colour, one being rusty brown and one being green.

Ammonium Ferric Citrate is, I think, a light green colour - at least my last batch of it was and it also has "green" in brackets on the label. However, I have found another pot in my darkroom which is truly rusty brown in colour, even though the label says "ammonium ferric citrate (green)" just like the green variety.

I remember querying the colour with the supplier at the time, and he told me that the colour made no difference - the green and the brown varieties are exactly the same.

Does anyone know if this is true? Or am I the lucky owner of both ammonium ferric citrate and ferric citrate!

Thanks in advance,
Neil.
Received on Wed Apr 7 10:46:21 2004