for your kelp farm i recommend using hopper minecarts instead of water streams for kelps into furnaces as hopper minecarts more evenly distribute the kelp if you keep the minecarts at a constant speed :) (i.e using powered rails all along the hoppers)
yes! I did consider this but I did also like the idea of seeing the kelp farm, although it is very slow, i might be changing this in the next episode LOL