Rowan Students Make Computers Home for Fish
February 6, 2002

Three Rowan University College of Engineering graduate students have taken an innovative approach to recycling used computer monitors: they are turning them into fish tanks.

Brian Fitzpatrick, of Williamstown; Mike Ciocco, of Franklinville; and Jeremy Neyhart, of Oreland, PA operate Living Monitor.Com.

The trio takes discarded monitors -- preferably 15-inch ones, but also 17-inch monitors -- and inserts a pre-made fish tank and other materials in the casing. The results are colorful havens for small fish.

The business kicked off last year, and the group recently has started taking orders for the fish tanks. Fitzpatrick, a grad student in mechanical engineering (the others are grad students in electrical engineering) said he hopes the effort can be a long-term one.

Costs start at $100 for the 15-inch monitor and $150 for the 17-inch one, and Fitzpatrick said the company would need to sell 200 to 300 a month to sustain all three of them. For now, he plans to look for a full-time job after completing his degree. "We're looking at this as a weekend and part-time thing for now," he said.

The company's effort is about more than making money, however. "We're actually recycling these instead of (them) going into a landfill. We're trying to conserve the environment a little bit," Fitzpatrick said.