Need Help Starting Out

I want to start growing hydroponic. I plan on growing 4 plants in the closet using CFLs. How big do the containers need to be? I was thinking about using two 5 gallon bucket size containers with two plants each. Will this work or is it better to use smaller containers with one plant each? Also I am not sure how to start the seeds. I will be using Hydroton Clay Aggregate Can I start the seeds directly in this or do I need to start the some other way?

Dpending on the size of your plants, 3 to 5 Gal each.

I'm asooming you want to grow DWC?

Personly, from my experances so far, I would get one big bucket over lots of small ones, A 35Gal sotrage box (It's a lot less work).
That said, you are growing from seed, and it can be hard to remove males in this sort of system.

Start Seeds in rockwool or Root Cubes, put them into the net pots and fill with Hydroton. you wan tthe water level in you Bucket to be level with the bottom of the Starter cube.

You will need a lot of CFLs to keep up with a DWC system. If you do not have enough light, growth will slow (And strech) and you will lose any benifit of using this type of hydro.

Hope that helps.
Check out the FAQ and do some searching, there's lots of info on this site and most questions have been answered already.

Thanks for the help. I decided to go with a General Hydroponics Waterfarm, a premade drip system. For lights I went with 2 4ft flourescenttubes at 6000K and two daylight CFLs, about 7250 Lumens total. I am going to start with just one plant and add another waterfarm and plant in a few weeks. Unless I can safely grow two plants in the waterfarm, It is about 10"x10" with a 3 gallon water tank.

I think one plant would be best.
Also I think, and don't quote me on this, But with that sort of lighting, it might be to you addavatage to keep your plant low, both by flowering early and using Topping and LST. As the light will not penatrate very far.