diff --git a/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh b/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
index ba6dd324b..ac204ed31 100755
--- a/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
+++ b/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ set -e
 export RUST_BACKTRACE=1
 export RUST_LOG="warn,lemmy_server=debug,lemmy_federate=debug,lemmy_api=debug,lemmy_api_common=debug,lemmy_api_crud=debug,lemmy_apub=debug,lemmy_db_schema=debug,lemmy_db_views=debug,lemmy_db_views_actor=debug,lemmy_db_views_moderator=debug,lemmy_routes=debug,lemmy_utils=debug,lemmy_websocket=debug"
 
+export LEMMY_TEST_FAST_FEDERATION=1 # by default, the persistent federation queue has delays in the scale of 30s-5min
+
 for INSTANCE in lemmy_alpha lemmy_beta lemmy_gamma lemmy_delta lemmy_epsilon; do
   echo "DB URL: ${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL} INSTANCE: $INSTANCE"
   psql "${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy" -c "DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS $INSTANCE"
diff --git a/api_tests/run-federation-test.sh b/api_tests/run-federation-test.sh
index aca57bc5f..3042fd344 100755
--- a/api_tests/run-federation-test.sh
+++ b/api_tests/run-federation-test.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 set -e
 
 export LEMMY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://lemmy:password@localhost:5432
-export LEMMY_TEST_FAST_FEDERATION=1 # by default, the persistent federation queue has delays in the scale of 30s-5min
 pushd ..
 cargo build
 rm target/lemmy_server || true