Im building my first tank from scratch and have seem to run into some trouble. My soil soaks up the water from the drainage layer and is stays soaked leaving my drainage layer without water.

I have about 2 inches of LECA in the bottom.
Then I put a felt mat to keep the dirt away from the drainage layer. (I purchased it from PETCO)
At first I put just the soil, but now in order to keep it dry I put a layer of sand and then added the soil as the top and final layer.

I left the tank for 24 hours and checked on it and the soil is still wet (not as wet though) and the drainage layer water went down.

I did not use ABG. is that the reason?

Please offer me any kind of advice you have. I want to finish the tank and get my frogs!!

Thank you!!