Tips on keeping trates low?

I don't think that's really the point though Incognito. When I, for one, point out that I only feed my fish 2 or 3x a week to limit nutrients... that does not at all mean they are only eating 2-3x a week. They also eat when corals are fed and if they are any good at being a life form, they are also finding their own food up in the rock work (pods, algae, old food, etc.).

If you provide all their food, they won't do a very good job of finding their own - and if they are not finding their own, that's just that much more junk in your rock work.

So by limiting how many times you feed you are limiting how much excess nutrient you are putting in and encouraging the fish to reduce the junk that's in there already.

Obviously there are exceptions - like with your fish that have specialized diets; unlike, say a clownfish that can eat anything.

 

I mostly agree with Peredhil, however, I've found sometimes reduced feeding is counterproductive. I think the reason is die-off. There are lots of things that need to eat besides fish. I recommended more frequent feedings, of smaller quantities, rather than less feedings of larger quantities. This is because then the biomass has a chance to consume all the food before it begins to decay. As long as the bioload is matched to the biomass, then actual amount of food is less important. The primary issue isn't bioload, but excess bioload compared to the demands of the biomass (within reason of course).