diff --git a/straxen/storage/rucio_remote.py b/straxen/storage/rucio_remote.py
index 508f77ff4..39c504fbb 100644
--- a/straxen/storage/rucio_remote.py
+++ b/straxen/storage/rucio_remote.py
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ class RucioRemoteFrontend(strax.StorageFrontend):
     local_did_cache = None
     path = None
 
-    def __init__(self, download_heavy=False, staging_dir="./strax_data", *args, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(
+        self, download_heavy=False, staging_dir="./strax_data", rses_only=tuple(), *args, **kwargs
+    ):
         """
         :param download_heavy: option to allow downloading of heavy data through RucioRemoteBackend
         :param args: Passed to strax.StorageFrontend
@@ -46,7 +48,7 @@ def __init__(self, download_heavy=False, staging_dir="./strax_data", *args, **kw
 
         if HAVE_ADMIX:
             self.backends = [
-                RucioRemoteBackend(staging_dir, download_heavy=download_heavy),
+                RucioRemoteBackend(staging_dir, download_heavy=download_heavy, rses_only=rses_only),
             ]
         else:
             self.log.warning(
@@ -91,7 +93,7 @@ class RucioRemoteBackend(strax.FileSytemBackend):
     # for caching RSE locations
     dset_cache: Dict[str, str] = {}
 
-    def __init__(self, staging_dir, download_heavy=False, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, staging_dir, download_heavy=False, rses_only=tuple(), **kwargs):
         """
         :param staging_dir: Path (a string) where to save data. Must be
             a writable location.
@@ -114,13 +116,19 @@ def __init__(self, staging_dir, download_heavy=False, **kwargs):
         super().__init__(**kwargs)
         self.staging_dir = staging_dir
         self.download_heavy = download_heavy
+        self.rses_only = strax.to_str_tuple(rses_only)
+
+    def _get_rse(self, dset_did):
+        rses = admix.rucio.get_rses(dset_did)
+        rses = list(set(rses) & set(self.rses_only)) if self.rses_only else rses
+        rse = admix.downloader.determine_rse(rses)
+        return rse
 
     def _get_metadata(self, dset_did, **kwargs):
         if dset_did in self.dset_cache:
             rse = self.dset_cache[dset_did]
         else:
-            rses = admix.rucio.get_rses(dset_did)
-            rse = admix.downloader.determine_rse(rses)
+            rse = self._get_rse(dset_did)
             self.dset_cache[dset_did] = rse
 
         metadata_did = strax.RUN_METADATA_PATTERN % dset_did
@@ -156,8 +164,7 @@ def _read_chunk(self, dset_did, chunk_info, dtype, compressor):
             if dset_did in self.dset_cache:
                 rse = self.dset_cache[dset_did]
             else:
-                rses = admix.rucio.get_rses(dset_did)
-                rse = admix.downloader.determine_rse(rses)
+                rse = self._get_rse(dset_did)
                 self.dset_cache[dset_did] = rse
 
             downloaded = admix.download(chunk_did, rse=rse, location=self.staging_dir)