of the inside, to the ceiling of the hollow so to speak, or do you just slide it into the gap and let it sit on the bottom?

My rack holds three sweaterboxes with 4" flexwatt running the long way. The shelves are made of two sheets of 1/8" plastic with a 1" tall gap for the flexwatt to go in. Are these shelves supposed to heat from above as much as below?

Tub racks and digital thermostats are foreign to me but they do seem like they'll be practical compared to mt old low tech aquarium setups when I get the hang of it.