A system for treating recycled cellulosic fibers to improve paper, board and tissue quality; the system involves fractionating recycled fibers into a short fiber portion and a long fiber portion. The short fiber portion is split into an original short fiber portion and a refinable portion. The refinable portion is processed into glue pulp. The glue pulp is refined to targeted, measured fiber properties. Varying amounts of the glue pulp, original short unrefined fibers, and long unrefined fibers are blended together to form an optimized slurry that is processed by a paper machine into an optimized recycled paper product. The process provides for improved drainage with the same or better paper properties allowing for cost reductions in fabrication.