diff --git a/rbf/cursor.go b/rbf/cursor.go
index 2419bc5f8..22d4427e6 100644
--- a/rbf/cursor.go
+++ b/rbf/cursor.go
@@ -526,7 +526,7 @@ func (c *Cursor) putLeafCellFast(in leafCell, isInsert bool) (err error) {
 	}
 
 	// Write page header.
-	dst := allocPage() // make([]byte, PageSize)
+	dst := allocPage()
 	writePageNo(dst, readPageNo(src))
 	writeFlags(dst, PageTypeLeaf)
 	writeCellN(dst, dstCellN)
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ func (c *Cursor) deleteLeafCell(key uint64) (err error) {
 	cells = cells[:len(cells)-1]
 
 	// Write cells to page.
-	buf := make([]byte, PageSize)
+	buf := allocPage()
 	writePageNo(buf[:], elem.pgno)
 	writeFlags(buf[:], PageTypeLeaf)
 	writeCellN(buf[:], len(cells))
@@ -800,7 +800,7 @@ func (c *Cursor) deleteBranchCell(stackIndex int, key uint64) (err error) {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		buf := make([]byte, PageSize)
+		buf := allocPage()
 		copy(buf, target)
 		writePageNo(buf[:], elem.pgno)
 
diff --git a/rbf/db.go b/rbf/db.go
index 97de950e6..1d693fac6 100644
--- a/rbf/db.go
+++ b/rbf/db.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"sync"
 	"syscall"
+	"unsafe"
 
 	"github.com/benbjohnson/immutable"
 	"github.com/molecula/featurebase/v2/logger"
@@ -560,7 +561,7 @@ func (db *DB) init() error {
 // initMetaPage initializes the meta page.
 func (db *DB) initMetaPage() error {
 
-	page := make([]byte, PageSize)
+	page := allocPage()
 	writeMetaMagic(page)
 	writeMetaPageN(page, 3)
 	writeMetaRootRecordPageNo(page, 1)
@@ -572,7 +573,7 @@ func (db *DB) initMetaPage() error {
 // initRootRecordPage initializes the initial root record page.
 func (db *DB) initRootRecordPage() error {
 
-	page := make([]byte, PageSize)
+	page := allocPage()
 	writePageNo(page, 1)
 	writeFlags(page, PageTypeRootRecord)
 	_, err := db.file.WriteAt(page, 1*PageSize)
@@ -582,7 +583,7 @@ func (db *DB) initRootRecordPage() error {
 // initFreelistPage initializes the initial freelist btree page.
 func (db *DB) initFreelistPage() error {
 
-	page := make([]byte, PageSize)
+	page := allocPage()
 	writePageNo(page, 2)
 	writeFlags(page, PageTypeLeaf)
 	_, err := db.file.WriteAt(page, 2*PageSize)
@@ -829,18 +830,22 @@ type DebugInfo struct {
 
 // Shared pool for in-memory database pages.
 // These are used before being flushed to disk.
-var pagePool = &sync.Pool{
-	New: func() interface{} {
-		page := make([]byte, PageSize)
-		return &page
-	},
-}
+var pagePool = &sync.Pool{}
 
 func allocPage() []byte {
-	page := pagePool.Get().(*[]byte)
-	return *page
+	existing := pagePool.Get()
+	if existing == nil {
+		return make([]byte, PageSize)
+	}
+	// zero the existing page before returning it
+	page := existing.(*[PageSize]byte)[:]
+	for i := range page {
+		page[i] = 0
+	}
+	return page
 }
 
 func freePage(page []byte) {
-	pagePool.Put(&page)
+	data := (*[PageSize]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(&page[0]))
+	pagePool.Put(data)
 }
diff --git a/rbf/tx.go b/rbf/tx.go
index aef2b395c..b2a1a5185 100644
--- a/rbf/tx.go
+++ b/rbf/tx.go
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ func (tx *Tx) createBitmap(name string) error {
 	}
 
 	// Write root page.
-	page := make([]byte, PageSize)
+	page := allocPage()
 	writePageNo(page, pgno)
 	writeFlags(page, PageTypeLeaf)
 	writeCellN(page, 0)
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ func (tx *Tx) writeRootRecordPages(records *immutable.SortedMap) (err error) {
 	// Write new root record pages.
 	for itr := records.Iterator(); !itr.Done(); {
 		// Initialize page & write as many records as will fit.
-		page := make([]byte, PageSize)
+		page := allocPage()
 		writePageNo(page, pgno)
 		writeFlags(page, PageTypeRootRecord)
 
@@ -1800,9 +1800,16 @@ func (tx *Tx) flush() error {
 	}
 
 	// Write bitmap headers & pages to WAL.
+	//
+	// We need to write a bitmap header before each such page. We only allocate
+	// one header, and we reuse it, because each write is flushing it out to
+	// disk, and it doesn't get stored in-memory.
+	var hdr []byte
+	if len(tx.dirtyBitmapPages) > 0 {
+		hdr = allocPage()
+	}
 	for _, pgno := range dirtyPageMapKeys(tx.dirtyBitmapPages) {
 		// Write header page.
-		hdr := make([]byte, PageSize)
 		writePageNo(hdr[:], pgno)
 		writeFlags(hdr[:], PageTypeBitmapHeader)
 		if _, err := tx.writeToWAL(w, hdr); err != nil {