Hey Orangeman, thanks for the sugestion. If they hadn't improved so quickly i would've tried moving the light further away but being only a 250w HPS i'd have been worried if the plants couldn't have taken that much light at their size of growth.

Well, I changed the water cycle to 15 min on/15 min off and they seem to have perked up a little (post pics later). Still a little shrivelled but def improvement.

I'll post some pics as time passes so anyone who's interested what a cheap 250w HPS bulb is going to do on 4 plants can see for themselves.