diff --git a/logstore.cpp b/logstore.cpp
index 8db788d..aecc3e7 100644
--- a/logstore.cpp
+++ b/logstore.cpp
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ void logtable<TUPLE>::flushTable()
     tsize = 0;
     tree_bytes = 0;
 
-    if(blocked && stop - start > 0.1) {
+    if(blocked && stop - start > 1.0) {
       if(first)
       {
           printf("\nBlocked writes for %f sec\n", stop-start);
diff --git a/mergeManager.cpp b/mergeManager.cpp
index 59bd755..20d4d3b 100644
--- a/mergeManager.cpp
+++ b/mergeManager.cpp
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ void mergeManager::set_c0_size(int64_t size) {
  */
 void mergeManager::tick(mergeStats * s, bool block) {
 #define PRINT_SKIP 20
-  pageid_t tick_length_bytes = 128*1024; // probably lower than it could be for production machines. 256KB leads to whining on my dev box.
+  pageid_t tick_length_bytes = 64*1024; // probably lower than it could be for production machines. 256KB leads to whining on my dev box.
 
 //  if(s->bytes_in_small_delta > tick_length_bytes) {
   pageid_t new_current_size = s->base_size + s->bytes_out - s->bytes_in_large;