I see that this is an old thread but it is what it is.

I have a local New York tank set up for almost 40 years. Many of the fish I collect this time of the year come up to NY on the Gulf Stream and there are no laws prohibiting you from collecting them. The only laws in NY are for sport fish or food fish.
Anything else is fine to take. For lobsters, clams and oysters you ned a permit which is only a few bucks.
I also have a lobster lisence and have been diving for them since the early seventees.
I also use natural sea water from the Atlantic or the Long Island Sound along with the mud which I collect for the bacteria. My reef will be 40 years old in March so it can't be that bad.
Here is one little 1/2" guy I collected this year along with a bunch of seahorses, pipefish, wrasses, trumpetfish and coronetfish.