Will Iodine Tablets Ruin My CamelBak?

Question

In the past, I have gone backpacking with some fairly expensive, heavy water purification tools. But the more I read about water safety in California's Sierras (here and here), the less I think these high-tech solutions are necessary.

Can I just drop some iodine tablets into my CamelBak?

Will the tablets:

1. react with the plastic bladder and destroy it?
2. stain the plastic bladder dark purple?
3. make the CamelBak taste like iodine permanently?

Answer 1

1. nope
2. yep (actually, yellow, not purple, thanks Clare)
3. Not in my experience, but I use clarifiers which remove the flavor in the water.

Also to clarify from comments, we did this for years before we started carrying a filter and it never damaged our containers. The plastic probably gets more damage from the sunlight caught during hiking than from the iodine.