Canister filter intake inside plugged overflow box?

[matman2k1]

This may sound weird, but here is the back story and my question. I bought a tank with a built in(internal) overflow box. (it was a good deal) One day I would like to move to saltwater but for now I want to do freshwater. The tank has the built in overflow box with a hole drilled through the bottom of the tank to go to a sump.

For now I have plugged the hole because I have no sump, nor do I intend to set one up right now. I plan to use my canister filter for now and was thinking it would be cool to hide my heater and intake tube by placing them inside the plugged overflow box. (the outake is plumbed to the overflow box 'jets' so everything becomes hidden)

So to my question. If I put the filter intake inside the overflow box and let the water flow into the box, am I going to get good enough filtration? My concern is that the intake is not going to get a lot of particles that would normally be floating around near the bottom of the tank...maybe this just requires me to clean the gravel more often...anyone have any thoughts on this subject? I know it is not using the overflow box for what is was intended for but could still be a cool facade for all the equipment.

Thanks,
Matt


p.s. I was thinking of just using the overflow outlet to go to the canister filter, but i didn't want to 'force' water down into the filter and possibly hurt the pump in my fluval 404...and since the box would hide everything, i figure its kind of the same effect.