When watering bromeliads, its a good idea to overflow the center cup, let it fill all the other cups formed by leaves below, and then overflow into the soil. Refreshing the water in the cups is a healthy thing, as it keeps the water from stagnating and helps prevent buildup of salts due to evaporation. You may find you will want to refresh with distilled water from time to time. After all, rain is nature's distilled water.

When your plant is large enough to produce a bloom, it can usually be induce with ethylene. Nurserymen inject it somehow, but we do this:

Enclose the entire plant with a cut apple (for ethylene production) in a clear plastic bag. Not sure how long it takes, 2 weeks? You won't see any buds happening that quickly, but the job of bud initiation should be done. Remember to keep the bag out of direct sun. We don't want any plants cooking!