diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index 35e5575..d5a2f5a 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -104,7 +104,6 @@ impl Config {
             .unwrap_or_else(|| Ok(vec![Url::parse("https://plc.wtf").unwrap()]))?;
 
         let full_network: bool = cfg!("FULL_NETWORK", false);
-        let backfill_concurrency_limit = cfg!("BACKFILL_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT", 128usize);
         let cursor_save_interval = cfg!("CURSOR_SAVE_INTERVAL", 5, sec);
         let repo_fetch_timeout = cfg!("REPO_FETCH_TIMEOUT", 300, sec);
 
@@ -119,7 +118,12 @@ impl Config {
         let identity_cache_size = cfg!("IDENTITY_CACHE_SIZE", 1_000_000u64);
         let disable_firehose = cfg!("DISABLE_FIREHOSE", false);
         let disable_backfill = cfg!("DISABLE_BACKFILL", false);
-        let firehose_workers = cfg!("FIREHOSE_WORKERS", 32usize);
+
+        let backfill_concurrency_limit = cfg!("BACKFILL_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT", 128usize);
+        let firehose_workers = cfg!(
+            "FIREHOSE_WORKERS",
+            full_network.then_some(32usize).unwrap_or(8usize)
+        );
 
         let (
             default_db_worker_threads,
diff --git a/src/ingest/mod.rs b/src/ingest/mod.rs
index b126ea4..d386b44 100644
--- a/src/ingest/mod.rs
+++ b/src/ingest/mod.rs
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ pub enum IngestMessage {
     BackfillFinished(Did<'static>),
 }
 
-pub type BufferedMessage = IngestMessage;
-
-pub type BufferTx = mpsc::UnboundedSender<BufferedMessage>;
+pub type BufferTx = mpsc::UnboundedSender<IngestMessage>;
 #[allow(dead_code)]
-pub type BufferRx = mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<BufferedMessage>;
+pub type BufferRx = mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<IngestMessage>;
diff --git a/src/ingest/worker.rs b/src/ingest/worker.rs
index 1904e28..6d5ca15 100644
--- a/src/ingest/worker.rs
+++ b/src/ingest/worker.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use crate::db::{self, keys};
-use crate::ingest::{BufferedMessage, IngestMessage};
+use crate::ingest::{BufferRx, IngestMessage};
 use crate::ops;
 use crate::resolver::{NoSigningKeyError, ResolverError};
 use crate::state::AppState;
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ enum RepoProcessResult<'s, 'c> {
 
 pub struct FirehoseWorker {
     state: Arc<AppState>,
-    rx: mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<BufferedMessage>,
+    rx: BufferRx,
     verify_signatures: bool,
     num_shards: usize,
 }
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ struct WorkerContext<'a> {
 impl FirehoseWorker {
     pub fn new(
         state: Arc<AppState>,
-        rx: mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<BufferedMessage>,
+        rx: BufferRx,
         verify_signatures: bool,
         num_shards: usize,
     ) -> Self {
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ impl FirehoseWorker {
     // enters the tokio runtime only when necessary (key resolution)
     fn worker_thread(
         id: usize,
-        mut rx: mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<BufferedMessage>,
+        mut rx: mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<IngestMessage>,
         state: Arc<AppState>,
         verify_signatures: bool,
         handle: tokio::runtime::Handle,