diff --git a/pinaxcon/settings.py b/pinaxcon/settings.py
index 0668bb3d3bb947f9c5161f1a42fc83fd25431ae5..62fd7fc951581ea01484236b8192a261b07df766 100644
--- a/pinaxcon/settings.py
+++ b/pinaxcon/settings.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import os
 import sys
 
 import django
+import dj_database_url
 import saml2
 import saml2.saml
 
@@ -27,12 +28,8 @@ else:
     sys.exit('DEBUG env var is in unexpected format.  Should be a string'
              'containing either a 0 or a 1 - Got type %s' % type(DEBUG))
 
-DATABASES = {
-    "default": {
-        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.sqlite3",
-        "NAME": os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, "dev.db"),
-    }
-}
+DATABASES['default'] = dj_database_url.config(conn_max_age=600)
+
 EMAIL_BACKEND = "django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend"
 THEME_CONTACT_EMAIL = os.environ.get('THEME_CONTACT_EMAIL', None)
 SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get('DJANGO_SECRET_KEY', None)