How does Coltiva work?
Coltiva watches your reservoir around the clock and steps in the moment something drifts out of range: dosing, refilling, or handing the controls to you in the app.
Coltiva measures the things that matter most for your plants’ health: the nutrient strength and acidity of the water, how much water is left, and the temperature and humidity of the air around it. It works with DWC, NFT, or any other hydroponic setup built around a reservoir.
Every reading is visible in the Coltiva app, where you set the range you want each value to stay in. If a reading drifts outside that range, you get a notification, along with a history of how it’s changed over time.
Connect up to six extra tanks and Coltiva can refill the reservoir on its own, mixing a multi-part nutrient solution and adjusting pH as it goes.
Automatic dosing
Set your pH and EC targets once and Coltiva holds the reservoir there on its own, dosing adjusters, topping up nutrients, and refilling with fresh water as the readings move.
Holds pH in range
When the solution drifts acid or alkaline, Coltiva doses pH- or pH+ in small steps, waits for the reading to settle, and doses again only if it’s still outside your range.
Holds EC in range
As the plants feed and EC falls, Coltiva tops the nutrients back up from your supply tanks, mixing a multi-part solution rather than pouring in one bottle.
Refills with fresh water
Evaporation and uptake drop the level and push EC up. Coltiva refills from your fresh-water tank, bringing the level and the nutrient strength back together.
Every automatic action follows a live sensor reading rather than a blind timer, and the readings that drove it stay in the app’s history, so you can see exactly what Coltiva did, and why. You can still run any pump by hand from the app whenever you’d rather do it yourself.
Automation runs on the control unit itself, not in the cloud. If the Wi-Fi drops, Coltiva carries on holding your targets. You lose the remote view until the connection is back, not the regulation.
Coltiva acts through its pumps: a dosing station for pH or nutrients, a volume pump for fresh water. A sensors-only setup monitors and alerts. Add the pumps for the readings you want held, and Coltiva takes it from there.
Sensors
Six sensors, four in the reservoir and two built into the control unit, give Coltiva a full picture of your system.
pH
Nutrient uptake changes the water’s pH as plants feed. Coltiva tracks it continuously and doses pH+ or pH- before it drifts far enough to stress the plants.
EC (conductivity)
Electrical conductivity rises and falls with how much nutrient is dissolved in the water. A falling reading means the plants are feeding, and tells Coltiva when it’s time to top up.
Water level
Mounted at the bottom of the reservoir, the level sensor watches for evaporation and uptake, and triggers a fresh-water refill the moment one is needed.
Water temperature
Tells you whether the reservoir is in the range your plants’ roots actually like, day and night.
Air temperature & humidity
Built into the control unit, so you can monitor grow-room conditions without an extra sensor to place.
Exact ranges and accuracy for every sensor are on the specifications table.
Pumps
Two pump types divide the work: small, precise doses and bulk water movement.
Dosing pumps
Built for precision, these peristaltic pumps dose as little as 5 ml at a time. They’re sold in pairs, as a dosing station, so a typical setup runs four: two for a two-part nutrient mix, two for pH+ and pH-.
Volume pumps
Volume pumps move water in bulk: circulating the reservoir, refilling it, or draining it completely. Run them alone, or alongside dosing pumps that handle the precise work.
Automatic, or by hand
Coltiva runs the pumps itself to hold your targets. When you’d rather do it yourself, the same pumps dose, refill, or drain on command from the app, from wherever you are.
Flow rates and dosing accuracy for both pump types are on the specifications table.
Ready to see kits & pricing?
Choose the kit that matches your reservoir, from sensors-only to full automatic dosing.
See kits & specs