My XL farm just kept soaking up water so I kept pouring the water in ( no ants in there yet), and it looked ok, but when I touched the surface it was like mud. I've had the lid off and it's been under a lamp for days but its still totally saturated.
Yep sand/loam can hold allot of water! lol
This is why its better to use a tube and feed the water from the bottom, into a base of a couple of cm of gravel/clay balls, fill with enough water to reach the bottom of the sand, and there you go :)
thats how I filled it....except I didnt stop when the bottom of the sand got wet...
i kind of had the same problem.. but the sand i was using was just gonna be for decoration in the tank i was keepin my ytong in for my pallidula.. i was waterin the ytong.. and the sand was soakin all the water up.. turned into a wetpit and i had to remove the ants and redo the whole setup.
That is why i always advice to try it out before you put the ants in it. ;)
Like miszt said, stop when the water reach the sand. :)