diff --git a/app/default_overrides.go b/app/default_overrides.go
index 4b3fbdc884..dfc065e1c4 100644
--- a/app/default_overrides.go
+++ b/app/default_overrides.go
@@ -218,7 +218,8 @@ func DefaultConsensusConfig() *tmcfg.Config {
 	// TODO: make TimeoutBroadcastTx configurable per https://github.com/celestiaorg/celestia-app/issues/1034
 	cfg.RPC.TimeoutBroadcastTxCommit = 50 * time.Second
 	cfg.RPC.MaxBodyBytes = int64(8388608) // 8 MiB
-	cfg.Mempool.TTLNumBlocks = 10
+	cfg.Mempool.TTLNumBlocks = 5
+	cfg.Mempool.TTLDuration = time.Duration(cfg.Mempool.TTLNumBlocks) * appconsts.GoalBlockTime
 	// Given that there is a stateful transaction size check in CheckTx,
 	// We set a loose upper bound on what we expect the transaction to
 	// be based on the upper bound size of the entire block for the given
diff --git a/cmd/celestia-appd/cmd/root.go b/cmd/celestia-appd/cmd/root.go
index 9db1f89430..91c86dc787 100644
--- a/cmd/celestia-appd/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/celestia-appd/cmd/root.go
@@ -80,11 +80,14 @@ func NewRootCmd() *cobra.Command {
 				return err
 			}
 
-			// Override the default tendermint config for celestia-app
-			tmCfg := app.DefaultConsensusConfig()
-			customAppTemplate, customAppConfig := initAppConfig()
-
-			err = server.InterceptConfigsPreRunHandler(cmd, customAppTemplate, customAppConfig, tmCfg)
+			// Override the default tendermint config and app config for celestia-app
+			var (
+				tmCfg       = app.DefaultConsensusConfig()
+				appConfig   = app.DefaultAppConfig()
+				appTemplate = serverconfig.DefaultConfigTemplate
+			)
+
+			err = server.InterceptConfigsPreRunHandler(cmd, appTemplate, appConfig, tmCfg)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -108,24 +111,6 @@ func NewRootCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	return rootCmd
 }
 
-// initAppConfig helps to override default appConfig template and configs.
-// return "", nil if no custom configuration is required for the application.
-func initAppConfig() (string, interface{}) {
-	type CustomAppConfig struct {
-		serverconfig.Config
-	}
-
-	// Optionally allow the chain developer to overwrite the SDK's default
-	// server config.
-	srvCfg := app.DefaultAppConfig()
-
-	CelestiaAppCfg := CustomAppConfig{Config: *srvCfg}
-
-	CelestiaAppTemplate := serverconfig.DefaultConfigTemplate
-
-	return CelestiaAppTemplate, CelestiaAppCfg
-}
-
 // setDefaultConsensusParams sets the default consensus parameters for the
 // embedded server context.
 func setDefaultConsensusParams(command *cobra.Command) error {