My guess is that your water is turning yellow from tannic acid leeching out of the driftwood - which should make your ram feel right at home! Seriously, it's not a bad thing - at least not for the ram, whose natural habitat has similar conditions. I don't know about the white clouds' ability to tolerate it, though - they're from a very different environment; still, they are known for their hardiness, so I doubt it'll be a problem.
Try adding an otocinclus catfish or two to knock out the algae. I wouldn't add any more inhabitants after that, though: too many fish in a small tank will increase nutrients (from fish waste) in the water column, which will increase algae. The trick is, of course, to have just enough nutrients for the plants, and not enough for the algae - good luck!
I forgot to mention: many people claim that adding CO2 helps boost the ability of "desirable" plants to "out-compete" algae. My own experiences with that are inconclusive, at best ... but - since you plan on eventually adding CO2 anyway - you may want to see how that goes before adding otocinclus cats. Just some more ideas - either way, best of luck with this tank.
