Wet/dry bioball advice

[r_dawson12]

I'm a rookie, so sorry in advance if this question is ridiculous. I have a 29 gallon acrylic tank that I'll be housing a mantis shrimp in. It has the wet/dry bioball set up and I won't be using it, I'm going to be putting 22 pounds of live rock in it instead.

I'm thinking I want to just fill up the area with water and use it to house my protien skimmer, heaters, etc. Is there any issues that can stem from this? I have supplied a pic for a visual if that helps.

http://i.imgur.com/W7mXp.jpg