diff --git a/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb b/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb
index cda9dc76..4c0dbb03 100644
--- a/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb
+++ b/lib/couchbase-orm/connection.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ class Connection
         @@config = nil
         def self.config
             @@config || {
-              :connection_string => "couchbase://#{ENV['COUCHBASE_HOST'] || '127.0.0.1'}",
+              :connection_string => ENV['COUCHBASE_HOST'] || '127.0.0.1',
               :username => ENV['COUCHBASE_USER'],
               :password => ENV['COUCHBASE_PASSWORD'],
               :bucket => ENV['COUCHBASE_BUCKET']
@@ -13,22 +13,22 @@ def self.config
         end
 
         def self.config=(config)
-            @@config = config
+            @@config = config.deep_symbolize_keys
         end
 
         def self.cluster
             @cluster ||= begin
                  cb_config = Couchbase::Configuration.new
-                 cb_config.connection_string = config[:connection_string] || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm connection string')
-                 cb_config.username = config[:username] || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm username')
-                 cb_config.password = config[:password] || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm password')
+                 cb_config.connection_string = config[:connection_string].presence.try { |s| "couchbase://#{s}" } || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm host')
+                 cb_config.username = config[:username].presence || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm username')
+                 cb_config.password = config[:password].presence || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm password')
                  Couchbase::Cluster.connect(cb_config)
               end
         end
 
         def self.bucket
             @bucket ||= begin
-                bucket_name = config[:bucket] || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm bucket name')
+                bucket_name = config[:bucket].presence || raise(CouchbaseOrm::Error, 'Missing CouchbaseOrm bucket name')
                 cluster.bucket(bucket_name)
             end
         end