diff --git a/src/amr/data/particles/refine/particles_data_split.hpp b/src/amr/data/particles/refine/particles_data_split.hpp
index 8bbe880c3..9b0fd443e 100644
--- a/src/amr/data/particles/refine/particles_data_split.hpp
+++ b/src/amr/data/particles/refine/particles_data_split.hpp
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ namespace PHARE
 {
 namespace amr
 {
-    enum class ParticlesDataSplitType {
-        coarseBoundary,
+    enum class ParticlesDataSplitType : std::uint8_t {
+        coarseBoundary = 0,
         interior,
         coarseBoundaryOld,
         coarseBoundaryNew
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ namespace amr
                 }
                 return incoming_estimate;
             };
+
             _reserve(destDomainParticles, count_expected);
 
             Splitter split;
diff --git a/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particle_data_refine_tag_strategy.hpp b/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particle_data_refine_tag_strategy.hpp
index 7808db27d..0e556b3af 100644
--- a/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particle_data_refine_tag_strategy.hpp
+++ b/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particle_data_refine_tag_strategy.hpp
@@ -42,15 +42,14 @@ std::array<int, 3> boxBoundsUpper(Box const& box)
 
 
 template<std::size_t dimension>
-ParticleArray<dimension> loadCell(int iCellX, int iCellY, int iCellZ)
+void loadCell(ParticleArray<dimension>& particles, int iCellX, int iCellY, int iCellZ)
 {
-    std::array<int, 3> _3diCell = {iCellX, iCellY, iCellZ};
+    std::array<int, 3> const _3diCell = {iCellX, iCellY, iCellZ};
 
-    float middle = 0.5;
-    float delta  = 0.30f;
+    float const middle = 0.5;
+    float const delta  = 0.30f;
 
     Particle<dimension> particle;
-    ParticleArray<dimension> particles;
 
     particle.weight = 1.;
     particle.charge = 1.;
@@ -79,8 +78,6 @@ ParticleArray<dimension> loadCell(int iCellX, int iCellY, int iCellZ)
 
     particle.delta[dirX] = middle + delta / 3;
     particles.push_back(particle);
-
-    return particles;
 }
 
 
@@ -156,17 +153,9 @@ class TagStrategy : public SAMRAI::mesh::StandardTagAndInitStrategy
                     auto const upper = boxBoundsUpper<dimension>(particlesBox);
 
                     for (auto iCellX = lower[dirX]; iCellX <= upper[dirX]; ++iCellX)
-                    {
                         for (auto iCellY = lower[dirY]; iCellY <= upper[dirY]; ++iCellY)
-                        {
                             for (auto iCellZ = lower[dirZ]; iCellZ <= upper[dirZ]; ++iCellZ)
-                            {
-                                auto const particles = loadCell<dimension>(iCellX, iCellY, iCellZ);
-                                interior.insert(std::end(interior), std::begin(particles),
-                                                std::end(particles));
-                            }
-                        }
-                    }
+                                loadCell<dimension>(interior, iCellX, iCellY, iCellZ);
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -210,7 +199,19 @@ class TagStrategy : public SAMRAI::mesh::StandardTagAndInitStrategy
         // do nothing
     }
 
-
+    auto domainParticlesForLevel(std::shared_ptr<SAMRAI::hier::PatchHierarchy> const& hierarchy,
+                                 int levelNumber)
+    {
+        std::vector<ParticleArray<dimension>*> particle_arrays;
+        auto level = hierarchy->getPatchLevel(levelNumber);
+        for (auto& patch : *level)
+            for (auto const& [name, dataId] : dataToAllocate_)
+                particle_arrays.emplace_back(
+                    &std::dynamic_pointer_cast<ParticlesData<ParticleArray<dimension>>>(
+                         patch->getPatchData(dataId))
+                         ->domainParticles);
+        return particle_arrays;
+    }
 
 private:
     std::map<std::string, int> dataToAllocate_;
diff --git a/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particledata_refine_basic_hierarchy.hpp b/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particledata_refine_basic_hierarchy.hpp
index edd6d9c9f..38c7f0c50 100644
--- a/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particledata_refine_basic_hierarchy.hpp
+++ b/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_particledata_refine_basic_hierarchy.hpp
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ template<std::size_t dimension, std::size_t interpOrder, ParticlesDataSplitType
 class BasicHierarchy
 {
     using ParticlesVariable_t = ParticlesVariable<ParticleArray<dimension>, interpOrder>;
+    using Splitter_t          = Splitter<DimConst<dimension>, InterpConst<interpOrder>,
+                                         RefinedParticlesConst<refinedParticlesNbr>>;
+    using ParticlesRefineOperator_t
+        = ParticlesRefineOperator<ParticleArray<dimension>, splitType, Splitter_t>;
 
 public:
     /**
@@ -74,7 +78,7 @@ class BasicHierarchy
     }
 
 
-    explicit BasicHierarchy(int _ratio)
+    explicit BasicHierarchy(int _ratio = 2)
         : ratio{SAMRAI::tbox::Dimension{dimension}, _ratio}
         , inputDatabase_{SAMRAI::tbox::InputManager::getManager()->parseInputFile(
               inputString(_ratio))}
@@ -97,10 +101,7 @@ class BasicHierarchy
               dimension_, "ChopAndPackLoadBalancer",
               inputDatabase_->getDatabase("ChopAndPackLoadBalancer"))}
 
-        , refineOperator_{std::make_shared<
-              ParticlesRefineOperator<ParticleArray<dimension>, splitType,
-                                      Splitter<DimConst<dimension>, InterpConst<interpOrder>,
-                                               RefinedParticlesConst<refinedParticlesNbr>>>>()}
+        , refineOperator_{std::make_shared<ParticlesRefineOperator_t>()}
 
 
         , tagStrategy_{std::make_shared<TagStrategy<dimension>>(variablesIds_, refineOperator_,
@@ -167,6 +168,11 @@ class BasicHierarchy
 
     SAMRAI::hier::IntVector const ratio;
 
+    auto domainParticlesForLevel(int levelNumber) const
+    {
+        return tagStrategy_->domainParticlesForLevel(hierarchy_, levelNumber);
+    }
+
 private:
     std::map<std::string, int> getVariablesIds_()
     {
diff --git a/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_split.cpp b/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_split.cpp
index 8027c35a2..c376fdcfb 100644
--- a/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_split.cpp
+++ b/tests/amr/data/particles/refine/test_split.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 #include "core/utilities/types.hpp"
 #include "amr/data/particles/refine/split.hpp"
 
+#include "test_particledata_refine_basic_hierarchy.hpp"
+
 #include "gmock/gmock.h"
 #include "gtest/gtest.h"
 
@@ -12,7 +14,7 @@
 namespace
 {
 template<std::size_t dimension, std::size_t interpOrder, std::size_t refineParticlesNbr>
-using Splitter
+using Splitter_t
     = PHARE::amr::Splitter<PHARE::core::DimConst<dimension>, PHARE::core::InterpConst<interpOrder>,
                            PHARE::core::RefinedParticlesConst<refineParticlesNbr>>;
 
@@ -22,7 +24,7 @@ struct SplitterTest : public ::testing::Test
     SplitterTest() { Splitter splitter; }
 };
 
-using Splitters = testing::Types<Splitter<1, 1, 2>, Splitter<2, 1, 8> /*, Splitter<3, 1, 27>*/>;
+using Splitters = testing::Types<Splitter_t<1, 1, 2>, Splitter_t<2, 1, 8> /*, Splitter<3, 1, 27>*/>;
 
 TYPED_TEST_SUITE(SplitterTest, Splitters);
 
@@ -31,4 +33,20 @@ TYPED_TEST(SplitterTest, constexpr_init)
     constexpr TypeParam param{};
 }
 
+
+
 } // namespace
+
+
+using BasicHierarchy_t = BasicHierarchy<2, 3, ParticlesDataSplitType::interior, 4>;
+struct Hierarchy_t : public ::testing::Test, public BasicHierarchy_t
+{
+};
+
+TEST_F(Hierarchy_t, checkCapacityPostRefinement)
+{ // without reserve the capacity is 4096 and will likely have multiple allocations
+    auto domainParticles = domainParticlesForLevel(1);
+    ASSERT_EQ(domainParticles.size(), 1);
+    EXPECT_EQ(domainParticles[0]->size(), 2800);
+    EXPECT_EQ(domainParticles[0]->capacity(), 4032);
+}