There are a few issues going on, here.
What year is your engine?
Why do you have so much dirt in your tank?
Why not use an in-line filter (or two in parallel), so you can see the dirt.
I don't understand how all this dirt is getting past the screen IN YOUR TANK, unless it is coming from your steel gas lines.
Notice, we keep getting back to your fuel tank.
My '55 Customline tank yielded FIVE heaping handfulls of rust. Rather than messing around, I bought a new tank with the proper tin coating, and installed stainless lines.
I opened the old tank with a torch. It was a mess. Witness marks revealed lots of varnish from gas left in it for many years. The sides looked like the Grand Canyon with different levels of varnish. The liquid level sender unit was shot too.
Whether you take the tank out or not, you need to flush it clean. I would use a garden hose to keep the junk in suspension, and a pump. If you get all the fumes out, you could use a shop-vac. Do it in the middle of the back yard, in open air, far away from buildings.
When you are done removing the water, pour in some alcohol and slosh it around. Alcohol sucks up water faster than Scotch, and it is easy to remove. Even if you don't get all the little dropletts out, alcohol mixes with gasoline. It WILL come out.
Hope this helps. - Dave
Royal Oak, Michigan (Four miles north of Detroit, and 12 miles NORTH of Windsor, Canada). That's right, we're north of Canada.Ford 292 Y-Block major overhaul by simplyconnected