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[ragincajun]

OK I've never used magma in my defenses before like I have water.  Plus building wells I've a lot more experience with water than magma.

So what I've done is dug out a channel four squares wide (top to bottom) and about 20 squares wide (left to right).  So channeled, it is two z-levels in depth.  I was expecting...like water...to fill up the bottom level and then proceed to fill up the top level.  Well, this didn't happen.

The entrance is fine, I have a bridge over the magma channel...but I had also dug out some adjacent tubes to use (similiar to Boatmurdered) to flood the world as needed in defense.  Unfortunately, these "tubes" are on the higher z-level and so the channel is filled completely...but the magma is not continuing into the tubes which renders them useless.  I can tunnel in from the side and channel out these side tubes...but the Fortifications and Floodgates used to spill outside are still on the higher level and won't work. 

Is there something I can do to fix this?

[Miuramir]

I was expecting...like water...to fill up the bottom level and then proceed to fill up the top level.  Well, this didn't happen.

Magma does not "pressurize" except when forced to do so by a screw pump, and moves slower than water.  There's a good discussion of this on the wiki under Pressure and you may want to also review the wiki entry on Magma and the one on Screw pumps

If you're planning on using magma as an attack, you'll probably want a pump (or several) anyway, or it will spread quite slowly even on the same level. 

[Absentia]

I don't know where you're getting your magma from, but you should be able to simply fill from a higher level, with a pump if necessary. Magma never flows upward on its own.

[Quietust]

Magma does not "pressurize" except when forced to do so by a screw pump, and moves slower than water.

No it doesn't - it moves at exactly the same speed (originally tested in 0.28.181.40d, and a quick test in Arena mode confirms it to be the same in 0.40.13).

[vjek]

If you're describing filling a cistern, fill it from the top, not the bottom.
If you're describing drawing from a cistern, draw from the bottom, not the top.
Always use magma safe components in every deconstructable part of the system.

That's pretty much the three most important things I learned from dealing with magma cisterns, over the years.

Additionally, magma can be frighteningly fast/effective, if things are sufficiently overdesigned.  I've seen magma hallways fill in less time than it takes a troll to walk one step, if there are enough pumps, a large enough source, sufficient power, and gears/minecarts in use instead of water logic.