Hi, Himagain,

Three grams of iodine crystals might treat thousands of
quarts of water, but it might not last for decades.
Iodine crystals will again vanish by sublimation.

The Remington treatise recommends a tincture, which
I think is safer than the crystals. Too much iodine is
unsafe, and a tincture has a controlled, known amount.

Matthew