That is what I did…LOL
What I found was as long as temps are right, you just need the water flowing.
The air stones did not add DO to the mix.
But I kept the air stones for big rootballs.
The air bubbles help to penetrate the thick rootball.
Not a bunch of flow between the roots so DO is probably lower there.
So to summarize here.
I used a DO meter to get in range with a circulation pump only.
Then turned on a large air pump, and checked the DO meter and it was the same or very close.
At that time I knew all the numbers ect, but not now.
The moral to the story is… as long as you have enough circulation and proper temps, you do not need an air pump to achieve max DO.
You may need to make sure the center of the root mass has proper DO levels.
I added air stones for that reason, not for DO.
If you can achieve proper DO levels in the middle of a big root mass another way you are golden.