Algae in tanks

I called a radiator repair shop and asked if they have a procedure for cleaning aluminum car radiators. I also explained that I had aluminum fuel tanks with the creeping crud from biodiesel. He told me that they have a batch of chemicals that will remove all of it. The only drawback, is the tank has to come off of the truck. As mentioned earlier, just pulling the drain plug on the bottom of the tank and removing the last bit of fuel is not a big deal. By putting an additive in to clean up the mess, is has to go somewhere. You will be changing filters...A LOT! As A model said. There is a band-aid and there is the right way.

 

Theyre probably just using a coil cleaner solution like nu-brite. Its caustic so be careful.

 

You're only going to have algae in the tank if you have water in it. Keep the water out, the algae is no longer an issue.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

Algae is from biodiesel. The algae grows when it's exposed to air. The algae grows on the walls of the tank and when it does, it falls to the bottom and that it what plugs filters. As mentioned earlier, asphaltine is another issue. The decaying algae on the bottom of the tank is like a thick grease and it will simply not wash off. Chemicals and physical scrubbing will remove it. I have it my tanks and trust me, you not want to have to get rid of it. Diesel engines are made to run on the remains of dead dinosaurs and not vegetables.

 

Thanks to the green movement most of the diesel we are stuck with nowadays already has water in it before you even pump it. Just be glad to now that having water in your tank shows that you care about the environment and do your part to stop global warming. Lol!

 

Used this stuff a few times in our trucks. Have spare fuel filters handy.

 

Killem is what I have been using and it works well. But like you said, keep extra filters in the truck and a can of clean fuel to fill them.

 

It shut down my series 60 on the highway after 750 miles, I definitely picked up some bad fuel. My question is how would I know if I also have algae in my tanks? Would I be able to tell from this filter?

 

Cut the filter apart and look for a tar-like crud. If your fuel level is low, you can look inside the tank. Look for a black stripe on the bottom of the tank and black on the sides.
One thing that I never do, is fuel up while a tanker is filling up the derground tanks. There is no way to know what the truck stop is using for filtration.

 

Hey thanks man, I'll definitely be cutting open my current filter when I swap it out. I also never fill up when I see a station taking delivery, always been a pet peeve of mine. Maybe I just missed the tanker that day haha. I used the Power Service Clean Diesel to try to flush out any remaining water that was in the system, so far no issues after a week of running.