[cstreit]

10 3" fish is too much load on a 16 gallon tank for starters. So your phosphate and ammonia levels are probably high. You can buy a test kit from the pet store. I have a total of 14" of fish in a 35 gallon, wouldn't go much higher. You have 30" of fish in a 16 gallon.

Additionally most store-bought tanks and lights do not contain enough light. Brown algae is a sign of not enough light in the tank. Fortunately it is easier to clean than green alage which comes with too much light (like sunlight in tanks near windows). What type of light/bulb is it?

What sort of filter is in your filter? Go a picture?

You should be doing about a 25% water change once per week. Are you vacuuming the gravel with every water change?

Basically cloudy water and algae are signs of poor water quality which I suspect is a combination of too many fish, not enough proper light, and possibly poor or substandard filtration. I'd take the time to resolve because otherwise you'll fight this forever.