diff --git a/resources/profiles/custom-spec.yaml b/resources/profiles/custom-spec.yaml
index 193e082d3..1cf022cdc 100644
--- a/resources/profiles/custom-spec.yaml
+++ b/resources/profiles/custom-spec.yaml
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ local: # 3 nodes, ~850 TPS (Docker Desktop 8 cores, 16 GB RAM)
         - name: JAVA_HEAP_MIN
           value: 1g
         - name: JAVA_HEAP_MAX
-          value: 6g
+          value: 4g
         - name: JAVA_OPTS
-          value: "-XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+UseZGC -XX:ZAllocationSpikeTolerance=2 -XX:ConcGCThreads=2 -XX:ZMarkStackSpaceLimit=1g -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=2g -XX:MetaspaceSize=100M -Xlog:gc*:gc.log --add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.misc=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens java.base/java.nio=ALL-UNNAMED -Dio.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible=true"
+          value: "-XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+UseZGC -XX:ZAllocationSpikeTolerance=2 -XX:ConcGCThreads=2 -XX:ZMarkStackSpaceLimit=1g -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=1500m -XX:MetaspaceSize=100M -Xlog:gc*:gc.log --add-opens java.base/jdk.internal.misc=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens java.base/java.nio=ALL-UNNAMED -Dio.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible=true"
   haproxy: # use chart defaults
   envoyProxy: # use chart defaults
   rpcRelay:
diff --git a/src/core/account_manager.ts b/src/core/account_manager.ts
index 0c855dfe9..03e9c1a8c 100644
--- a/src/core/account_manager.ts
+++ b/src/core/account_manager.ts
@@ -214,21 +214,25 @@ export class AccountManager {
    * @returns a node client that can be used to call transactions
    */
   async _getNodeClient (namespace: string, networkNodeServicesMap: Map<string, NetworkNodeServices>, operatorId: string,
-    operatorKey: string, useFirstNodeOnly = true) {
+    operatorKey: string, useSecondNodeOnly = true) {
     let nodes = {}
     try {
       let localPort = constants.LOCAL_NODE_START_PORT
 
+      let iteration = 0
       for (const networkNodeService of networkNodeServicesMap.values()) {
+        if (useSecondNodeOnly && networkNodeServicesMap.size > 1 && (iteration < 1 || iteration > 1)) {
+          continue
+        }
+
         const addlNode = await this.configureNodeAccess(networkNodeService, localPort, networkNodeServicesMap.size)
         nodes = { ...nodes, ...addlNode }
-        localPort++
 
-        if (useFirstNodeOnly) {
-          break
-        }
+        localPort++
+        iteration++
       }
 
+
       this.logger.debug(`creating client from network configuration: ${JSON.stringify(nodes)}`)
       // scheduleNetworkUpdate is set to false, because the ports 50212/50211 are hardcoded in JS SDK that will not work when running locally or in a pipeline
       this._nodeClient = Client.fromConfig({ network: nodes, scheduleNetworkUpdate: false })