Glad to here its rolling along again!
Yup sphag does have a upper crunchie feature to it while the middle and lower areas' do stay moist for a long period of time. Thats' why I add large grade perlite to even out and avoid rotting in the middle and lower layers of the pots, so when the tops begins to dry out, so does the rest of it.
I do allow my sphag to dry out, but no more then 1 day - after that, I flood the pots again.