Fuel additive for algae

Our 307 cat excavator quit while Dad was running it yesterday and would only run maybe a minute or two after that if you let it sit a while. I just changed the fuel filter. It also has a small screen where the fuel enters the transfer pump. Similar to the screen on Farmall carburetors. It was totally plugged with algae. I realize the tank has algae in it and was wondering what the best way to treat it is without having to drain the entire tank which is full. I want to treat the tank and also our 250 gallon bulk tank. I have heard of a product called bugs and also know power service makes a product for algae. I know the best way would be empty tank and drain but I can't see wasting the fuel if it can be saved. Thoughts ?

We had a full semi transport delivered to the farm a few years ago that was contaminated.

The supplier gave us a case of chemical to put in our 10,000 gallon tank to kill it and offered to send out a pumper to run through a filtration.

Apparently, there are several types that can grow, but one thing they told us is that they all need water to grow, so you might check for that also.

When we finally took the tank off the combine and emptied it out, the bucket with the worst of it looked like it was full of green ditch moss.

Howard

I think it is called Bio Clean and then leave it sit and change the fuel filters. I can get you the name off my bottle if you need it

Siphon out the fuel, clean the tank the best you can while draining, add the bio treatment and refill. Let drained fuel settle and pour off the top when the algae settles, if it does.

First off there is no such thing as algae in diesel fuel.
Algae needs light to grow and if you got sunlight getting to your fuel you got bigger problems than algae.
People call it algae because of the way it looks but it is really a microbial growth.
This microbial growth MUST have water to grow so your first thing to do is to get rid of the water source.
Once you have drained any water collected on the bottom of the tank you can add a water absorbing chemical that will attach to any other water and send it threw the system.
Now once you have the water source taken care of you need to kill the microbes.
A diesel fuel treatment will not work. The bottle must say Biocide.
As the biocide kills the microbes they will go threw the system.
The fuel filters will catch them so get ready to replace the filters a few times.
This is why I recommend for small tank on a tractor or such to just treat; drain; and throw away or filter threw a cheese cloth or similar item. Throw away fuel from a small tank is usually more cost effective than the cost of the filters needed to clean that tank of fuel.

Bio Kleen Biocide is just one of several products made by different manufactures.

Well I sent dad to Napa and he came back with a product called star tron. It says it is an enzyme treatment. Hopefully this will help some but I am expecting to have to clean that small screen a bunch of more times. Right now I can't talk dad into draining the tank, cleaning and refilling. He is pretty old school and can be very stubborn. Maybe after it dies on him a few more times he will understand. Fuel.probably has water from condensation, as it doesn't get all that many hours on it. We have not had a problem with our skid steer or tractors which get used more. Thank you for the information !

Startron is the best. I buy it for myself and I sell it to my customers. I keep it for gas and diesel.

That's what the Napa guy said. Said it was the best he had. Dad said it was 32 dollars for 16 oz. Treats 500 gallons.

Star Tron is a very good fuel treatment. Disperses water and stabilizes the fuel for years of storage.
Problem is it is not a biocide. It will not kill the microbes.
The PDF on it says it will disperse the growth into the fuel column where it can be filtered out.
So it will be interesting to see if it works long term for you.

By dispersing the water in the tank and mixing the microbes with the fuel you reduce the problem.
But without continues use the water will form again and if just one microbe is left alive in the tank the population will start up all over again.

So by my old school way Star Tron is step one. Treating the fuel.
I would still follow up with a biocide.

You can use E 85 to clean the mess up in the empty tank and lines

Biocide

The biocide I have used is made by Power Service, called Bio Kleen, I have used other Power Service products and feel they are effective.