Did better aeration fix my tank's cycle?

[memorywrangler]

I have a 5 gallon mini tank that's been up with for couple weeks with custom all-in-one sump.  No fish yet, but a bunch plants (that are growing very well) and some cherry shrimp and snails.  AFter an initial ammonia spike, my nitrates and nitrates started rising, several water changes later they were stuck with nitrites@1pmm and nitrates@10ppm.  The remained there for serveral days.  Then, yesterday morning (< 24 hours after my last test), they were (and are) both zero.

The only change I made was to re-direct the return on stream from the filter to make more of a riffle on the water in hopes of improving aeration.  

Is it possible that this fixed my cycle?

[Scapexghost]

It is possible. Bacteria need oxygen for the nitrification process. However,  it could be a coincidence. Hard to say. I had a similar experience when i first cycled my first tank.