Back in the day, we used to lower a length of chain down into a tank and then rattle the tank around letting the chain knock anything that was loose or scaly inside the tank away from the metal. Then rinse and dump a few times.
Eastwood makes a gas tank recondition kit, basically you do the same as above but then put their sealer on the inside of the tank swishing it around to seal all inside surfaces.
http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=...20sealer%20kit