The Atlantic Ocean is only about ten minutes from my house, and I was wondering if anybody has ever setup a saltwater aquarium strictly out of the ocean. I have been scouting out some areas and have found some nice already established pieces of live rock that would be perfect for the 50 gallon tank that I have. The live rock that I have seen are small enough pieces that it would not disturb the existing rock around it. I just wonder if anyone has ever set up a tank this way and how did it work out? Thanks for any help you can give.

I am not sure,A few of the others were discussing it being illegal to go out and get corals.not sure if that would be the case with rock

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Im not sure,But something on this board smells fishy!

Thanks, I'm not really interested in the coral for now. I'm just thinking of getting the sand and rock from the coast of SC to start my tank and if everything cycles well, I might get a few local fish from the inlet here, just to see how things turn out. Thank you for the advice though, I didn't know that collecting corals was illegal, but that is something that is handy knowing. Thanks again.

A good idea would be to check with your state's Dept. of Natural resources, or it's equivalent. Some of the fines for violations can be large!

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Men In Nursing- A Few Good Men

"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960

I would also be concerned about possible pollutants from the sand and the water. Wouldn't that be a problem with any captive bred live stock you may want in the future? IDK, I guess I'm just really leary about doing anything really quickly when it comes to my tank...it's just sure to backfire at some time in the future. That's me though.

Good luck.

Lisa

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Lisa

its illegal to collect any rock or stony corals.

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"Guns don't kill people, the government does" - Rusty Shackleford

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.

Paul- Are you in the LI area? I used to go collecting with a friend there and his friend also had a NY tank with tropicals brought up every year. Everything from angelfish to mangrove snappers. It was great fun, and the fish were destined for a cold death if not caught.

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Men In Nursing- A Few Good Men

"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960

Yes I am in Long Island

+1, may not be in your state regs because it is a federal law

If I find any stony corals in New York I will gladly arrest myself.

I just got back from a weekend out on the East End in Montauk.
I collected some nice cold, crystal clear Atlantic water. It is warmed and in my tank now, the fish are smiling from gill to gill.
I collected near here.

Many years ago we used to transport small fish, anemones, and urchins from a SC inlet to Indiana. Once we learned how to package them and get them home safely we never had any problems. A couple of times we had a fish that didn't look healthy and we would quarenteen (sp??) them. It was always fun to watch them grow up. We found a puffer that was approximately 1/2" long and had him about 10 years. He out grew our tank and went to the local zoo.

Montauk is one of the best SW fishing spots in the world, the vast array of species is incredible. Paul you are lucky.

It is a great place for all sorts of things.

Just a tip I use when collecting SW, you can run it through a micron sieve to remove possible pests. Some pests have long ranges, but this post was mostly for the tropical people who are doing the same thing you are. I like natural SW too.

I run it through a coffee filter

why is your tank all yellow?

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What to do today, water change?

My reef is not yellow, this 10 gallon local tank seems yellow because it is lit with a regular light bulb from a desk light.

I would like to update this little spiny burfish that I collected this last summer.
He has grown about double in size and is about an inch and a half, up from the 3/4" he was when collected.
He eats worms, clams and plankton. The butterfliesand wrasses we collected that same trip are also growing and doing fine. I will not be putting any of these fish in my reef.