[Suggestion] Algae (underwater farming; multiple uses)

Hello, fellow IndustrialCrafters!

I came up with an idea recently. As one of the rare species of peaceful players (Actually, I play on servers without monsters so hunger still applies), I find it hard to acquire bonemeal, which I would very much like to have. My little answer was: Algae.

What is new:
-Four types of algae are added to the world generator.
->Algae can be blue, green, yellow or red. Their colors are directly linked to the biomes they appear in.
-Algae are rather rare and appear more commonly in deeper water.
-Algae behave like underwater reeds: They are still water in terms of "can I swim through and drown" and require water to be placed or grow into a block. When harvested and surrounded by source blocks, they turn into a source block (not to generate a current when harvested).
->Algae grow better the deeper they are planted. If they are planted above sea level, they will, for instance, not achieve heights over 2. Bedrock-level farms will stretch 10 meters high.
-Algae grow in the (relatively) dark, but light won't hurt them either.

What to do with it:
-Any four base algae items of the same color can be crafted into an algae chunk.
( Maybe : -Any one base algae item can be cooked into roasted seaweed for food... Sushi?)
-An algae chunk can be used in the compressor. This nets respectively colored mineral chunks.
-Mineral chunks can be macerated into dyes, I suggest a 1:2 ratio but, as with all numbers, these are just suggestions.
-Two algae chunks of two different, mixable colors can be crafted into two same-colored algae chunks of that mixed color.
->Blue algae chunk + Red algae chunk = 2 Purple algae chunks
-Four algae chunks of the four base colors net 2 white algae chunks. Macerate these into (industrial) bonemeal!

What does it achieve?
-Adventuring: You will have to find these rare algae first.
-Aesthetics: Underwater areas with algae will look nicer.
-Bonemeal farming and dye production: Finally build that huge colored thing in non-green! Also, fertilizer.
-Expandability: Algae are very useful, right? You could expand the idea with more recipes, such as food or energy. Think of bio-hydrogen, plant fuel, or even a substitute black algae dust for making solar panels? Black algae aren't in my suggestion (yet), but they could be a super-rare, fifth base algae type. Algae can purify water, be used as medical items or as an alternative source of paper!
-It fits the style of IndustrialCraft - a new-ish, fairly futuristic way of exploiting nature to one's benefits.

Thanks for reading! I just hope underwater plants are technically doable. What do you think?

Thank you!

Which brings up the question: Should you be able to generate basic algae in all colors from the algae chunks? Just for decoration I mean.

Still, you'd have to balance white algae growth, nay? I mean, given all algae grow equally fast: Bonemeal is way more useful than green dye. Which basically brings up the question about how quickly algae grow at all, in dependency of their color.

But that's nothing a little balancing couldn't fix. I, for one, am very pleased to see how constructively suggestions are discussed on this board!

I noticed that and am thankful for it
Seeing as there's agriculture coming up... I know it's limited to tilled soil, or at least Alblaka specified it that way, but underwater/hydroponic crops/algae might be an addition to consider. As there would be many colors of algae, the possibilities of crossing them with plants are many and allow for "solely color-based stuff" such as the already-suggested redstone wheat (which I still think would be overpowered).

Seeing as the ore dictionary seemingly allows distinguishing between "dye just colors" and "Lapis can be used for Lapotron, but not indigo flowers from RedPower", rose red isn't always the "we already have that" answer. Also, algae contain loads of minerals, for the realism-lovers . If there's ever a use for iodine, just get purple algae.

Colors are fun, and if new minerals are to be added, algae would provide many ways to gain color-based minerals. Expandability is the word here, I guess. As long as no one expects 1024 redstone per minute from one red algae plant...

I'd be careful with making non-renewable things renewable. We have UU-Matter, but it's far from imbalanced or overpowered. If you have enough energy to just produce diamonds for fun with the Mass Fabricator, you are so far it doesn't make sense to restrict you. However, being able to "farm iron" is probably against the idea of having to mine at all. It'd require delicate balancing.

Still, I'd volunteer for that balancing

Thanks, guys! I'm glad I could bring up useful ideas!

Algae pretty surely do not meet the current criteria, but maybe they'd serve as an inspiration for future versions. Also, there is a rebreather, but it's costly and needs iridium