diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index b53815f..8796994 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
   :scm {:name "git"
         :url "http://github.com/alaisi/postgres.async.git"}
   :dependencies [[org.clojure/clojure "1.6.0"]
-                 [org.clojure/core.async "0.1.346.0-17112a-alpha"]
-                 [com.github.alaisi.pgasync/postgres-async-driver "0.7-SNAPSHOT"]
+                 [org.clojure/core.async "0.2.374"]
+                 [com.github.alaisi.pgasync/postgres-async-driver "0.7"]
                  [cheshire "5.5.0" :scope "provided"]]
   :lein-release {:deploy-via :clojars}
   :global-vars {*warn-on-reflection* true}
diff --git a/src/postgres/async.clj b/src/postgres/async.clj
index 1fbcc3a..d15257a 100644
--- a/src/postgres/async.clj
+++ b/src/postgres/async.clj
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
       (.ssl (boolean ssl))
       (.pipeline (boolean pipeline))
       (.poolSize (or pool-size 25))
-      (.validationQuery validation-query)
+      (.validationQuery (or validation-query ""))
       (.dataConverter (create-converter))
       (.build)))
 
diff --git a/test/postgres/async_test.clj b/test/postgres/async_test.clj
index ff42706..41d861d 100644
--- a/test/postgres/async_test.clj
+++ b/test/postgres/async_test.clj
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
                              :database (env "PG_DB" "postgres")
                              :username (env "PG_USER" "postgres")
                              :password (env "PG_PASSWORD" "postgres")
+                             :validation-query "select 1"
                              :pipeline true
                              :pool-size 1})]
       (try