diff --git a/examples/CosmoVolume/cosmoVolume.yml b/examples/CosmoVolume/cosmoVolume.yml
index a2f0ad9cccca9f4e7a709545104f199c09363155..83d70f35c0d7ed5f0c81eb138b37eb0881125e85 100644
--- a/examples/CosmoVolume/cosmoVolume.yml
+++ b/examples/CosmoVolume/cosmoVolume.yml
@@ -37,10 +37,8 @@ Statistics:
 SPH:
   resolution_eta:        1.2348   # Target smoothing length in units of the mean inter-particle separation (1.2348 == 48Ngbs with the cubic spline kernel).
   delta_neighbours:      0.1      # The tolerance for the targetted number of neighbours.
-  max_ghost_iterations:  30       # Maximal number of iterations allowed to converge towards the smoothing length.
   max_smoothing_length:  0.705    # Maximal smoothing length allowed (in internal units).
   CFL_condition:         0.1      # Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition for time integration.
-  max_volume_change:     2.       # Maximal allowed change of volume over one time-step
 
 # Parameters related to the initial conditions
 InitialConditions:
diff --git a/examples/ExternalPointMass/externalPointMass.yml b/examples/ExternalPointMass/externalPointMass.yml
index e4c3abc28362801ee53320f9e547bf6d01670ec7..52330163caa13609fd7674a5cdf2921743fbe227 100644
--- a/examples/ExternalPointMass/externalPointMass.yml
+++ b/examples/ExternalPointMass/externalPointMass.yml
@@ -32,10 +32,8 @@ Statistics:
 SPH:
   resolution_eta:        1.2348   # Target smoothing length in units of the mean inter-particle separation (1.2348 == 48Ngbs with the cubic spline kernel).
   delta_neighbours:      0.1      # The tolerance for the targetted number of neighbours.
-  max_ghost_iterations:  30       # Maximal number of iterations allowed to converge towards the smoothing length.
   max_smoothing_length:  10.      # Maximal smoothing length allowed (in internal units).
   CFL_condition:         0.1      # Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition for time integration.
-  max_volume_change:     2.       # Maximal allowed change of volume over one time-step
 
 # Parameters related to the initial conditions
 InitialConditions:
diff --git a/examples/SedovBlast/sedov.yml b/examples/SedovBlast/sedov.yml
index 96b16c5b85b2e534e5ac8b7680f61ed9912da3d6..9fbabb4969b6accdb7323d8270b735951ac0693a 100644
--- a/examples/SedovBlast/sedov.yml
+++ b/examples/SedovBlast/sedov.yml
@@ -32,10 +32,8 @@ Statistics:
 SPH:
   resolution_eta:        1.2348   # Target smoothing length in units of the mean inter-particle separation (1.2348 == 48Ngbs with the cubic spline kernel).
   delta_neighbours:      0.1      # The tolerance for the targetted number of neighbours.
-  max_ghost_iterations:  30       # Maximal number of iterations allowed to converge towards the smoothing length.
   max_smoothing_length:  1.       # Maximal smoothing length allowed (in internal units).
   CFL_condition:         0.1      # Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition for time integration.
-  max_volume_change:     2.       # Maximal allowed change of volume over one time-step
 
 # Parameters related to the initial conditions
 InitialConditions:
diff --git a/examples/SodShock/sodShock.yml b/examples/SodShock/sodShock.yml
index 62ed0c68cad8e063f49ab0655aee0e10f57e6314..003b7286777230ceb3b84ee01c6a1f335aeb9476 100644
--- a/examples/SodShock/sodShock.yml
+++ b/examples/SodShock/sodShock.yml
@@ -32,10 +32,8 @@ Statistics:
 SPH:
   resolution_eta:        1.2348   # Target smoothing length in units of the mean inter-particle separation (1.2348 == 48Ngbs with the cubic spline kernel).
   delta_neighbours:      0.1      # The tolerance for the targetted number of neighbours.
-  max_ghost_iterations:  30       # Maximal number of iterations allowed to converge towards the smoothing length.
   max_smoothing_length:  0.01     # Maximal smoothing length allowed (in internal units).
   CFL_condition:         0.1      # Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition for time integration.
-  max_volume_change:     2.       # Maximal allowed change of volume over one time-step
 
 # Parameters related to the initial conditions
 InitialConditions:
diff --git a/examples/UniformBox/uniformBox.yml b/examples/UniformBox/uniformBox.yml
index 64f9a135fff6ecb2e4500ade95d1500a0712f2c8..50afbee02ddc8a801ca77ed4900b7d2e0e3b50b5 100644
--- a/examples/UniformBox/uniformBox.yml
+++ b/examples/UniformBox/uniformBox.yml
@@ -32,10 +32,8 @@ Statistics:
 SPH:
   resolution_eta:        1.2348   # Target smoothing length in units of the mean inter-particle separation (1.2348 == 48Ngbs with the cubic spline kernel).
   delta_neighbours:      0.1      # The tolerance for the targetted number of neighbours.
-  max_ghost_iterations:  30       # Maximal number of iterations allowed to converge towards the smoothing length.
   max_smoothing_length:  0.1      # Maximal smoothing length allowed (in internal units).
   CFL_condition:         0.1      # Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition for time integration.
-  max_volume_change:     2.       # Maximal allowed change of volume over one time-step
   
 # Parameters related to the initial conditions
 InitialConditions:
diff --git a/examples/parameter_example.yml b/examples/parameter_example.yml
index 9b2ebd028a3506e231aa36ed2078bb44faf4eb49..fb1e6ff6931b2fdee00792eed7f178872ee6d950 100644
--- a/examples/parameter_example.yml
+++ b/examples/parameter_example.yml
@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@ Statistics:
 SPH:
   resolution_eta:        1.2348   # Target smoothing length in units of the mean inter-particle separation (1.2348 == 48Ngbs with the cubic spline kernel).
   delta_neighbours:      0.1      # The tolerance for the targetted number of neighbours.
-  max_ghost_iterations:  30       # Maximal number of iterations allowed to converge towards the smoothing length.
+  max_ghost_iterations:  30       # (Optional) Maximal number of iterations allowed to converge towards the smoothing length.
   max_smoothing_length:  0.1      # Maximal smoothing length allowed (in internal units).
   CFL_condition:         0.1      # Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition for time integration.
-  max_volume_change:     2.       # Maximal allowed change of kernel volume over one time-step
+  max_volume_change:     2.       # (Optional) Maximal allowed change of kernel volume over one time-step
 
 # Parameters related to the initial conditions
 InitialConditions:
diff --git a/src/hydro_properties.c b/src/hydro_properties.c
index b4e37d672408ad3c0adf1f37fcd4fcbd50095d92..16216f81a5b505fc3a887e86ca4898bc4179e4d5 100644
--- a/src/hydro_properties.c
+++ b/src/hydro_properties.c
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@
 #include "hydro.h"
 #include "kernel_hydro.h"
 
+#define hydro_props_default_max_iterations 30
+#define hydro_props_default_volume_change 2.0f
+
 void hydro_props_init(struct hydro_props *p,
                       const struct swift_params *params) {
 
@@ -39,13 +42,13 @@ void hydro_props_init(struct hydro_props *p,
   p->delta_neighbours = parser_get_param_float(params, "SPH:delta_neighbours");
 
   /* Ghost stuff */
-  p->max_smoothing_iterations =
-      parser_get_param_int(params, "SPH:max_ghost_iterations");
+  p->max_smoothing_iterations = parser_get_opt_param_int(
+      params, "SPH:max_ghost_iterations", hydro_props_default_max_iterations);
 
   /* Time integration properties */
   p->CFL_condition = parser_get_param_float(params, "SPH:CFL_condition");
-  const float max_volume_change =
-      parser_get_param_float(params, "SPH:max_volume_change");
+  const float max_volume_change = parser_get_opt_param_float(
+      params, "SPH:max_volume_change", hydro_props_default_volume_change);
   p->log_max_h_change = logf(powf(max_volume_change, 0.33333333333f));
 }
 
@@ -60,4 +63,8 @@ void hydro_props_print(const struct hydro_props *p) {
       "Hydrodynamic integration: Max change of volume: %.2f "
       "(max|dlog(h)/dt|=%f).",
       powf(expf(p->log_max_h_change), 3.f), p->log_max_h_change);
+
+  if (p->max_smoothing_iterations != hydro_props_default_max_iterations)
+    message("Maximal iterations in ghost task set to %d (default is %d)",
+            p->max_smoothing_iterations, hydro_props_default_max_iterations);
 }