Coming from Orlando I don't think you will have to much of an issue climate wise. Its HOT and HUMID in the summer, the city's recent motto is "Famously Hot". Our winters are mild though this will be the biggest change to you climate wise as Orlando probably never experiences winter but overall a very similar climate. For housing look towards the Lexington area or Northeast Columbia (
Blythewood), these are the places that tend to be experiencing the best growth and are the nicer places to live. Not sure you'll be able to find anything on Lake Murray for that price but it may be worth looking into. There are a lot of neighborhoods out in the Northeast/
Blythewood or Lexington with smaller lakes/ponds if you are looking for something like that (Lake Carolina?). Not a big Hockey culture here at all. I've personally never seen an adult hockey league here. There is a state income tax and property tax per vehicle here.
I've lived here all of my life, guess I can't really compare it to other places but I get aggravated at the weather a lot. Can be very up and down, one week it snows and is cold the next it is 70-80 degrees and sunny. Overall its not a bad place to live, its affordable and tends to feel smaller than it is (to me at least). Public transit sucks. If you travel out of state a lot make the hour drive up to Charlotte its much much cheaper than flying out of the local airport and an easy drive. Traffic in Columbia isn't to bad has its ups and downs like all cities at certain times but overall its manageable and nothing like Orlando and I4 holy god (though we do have some very bad drivers). You are also not dealing with Disney anything, we don't have any huge attractions like that to clog up traffic or overtake the city. We have no toll roads here in town as well and parking is free downtown after 5pm. Its a college sports state so if you are into professional anything you are out of luck meaning not much sports entertainment past college seasons. If you are younger this might bode well for you as there are lots of younger people here to interact with because of the University in town. Also we are a fairly poor state compared to Florida, tourism money especially so our roadways don't look or function quite as nice. Lots of patch jobs instead of fixing the issues right then.
Columbia is on its way up as a city, though may not quite be there yet. Cities such as Greenville and Charleston offer a lot more to do but I wouldn't call Columbia a bad place to live. You aren't going to find the history and charm of Charleston, or the culture and nightlife of Greenville but its not bad. To be honest Greenville is turning into a really nice city, Columbia can't match it in nightlife and things to do, its really cleaned up well. However look at it this way. You are situated almost perfectly between the beach and the mountains (and Charleston/Greenville) so you can spend a weekend at either with a lower cost of living. Close enough for a day trip to two major US cities (Atlanta and Charlotte), at a hub of 3 interstates and close to I95, and gas prices are some of the lowest in the US. Plenty of lakes and parks/nature around the state as well for fishing or recreation.
Honestly Aquarium related we are lacking IMO. We have a fairly active broader club (mostly FW) based in the upstate and a Reef club based here in Columbia. We only have 1-2 LFS in town and only one of those IMO would even be considered a good one. Unfortunately we don't have any dedicated SW stores, they all sell both FW and SW. I believe that good one buys from
WWC for a lot of its coral stock, or they used to I just assume they still go down there and hand pick some frags. Was never a big fan of their pricing, though its probably on par with a normal LFS markup and I'm spoiled buying online, but its the best in town unless you order online. Talking about Fishy Business btw. There is at least 1 other option but not without a 30min drive out of town to Camden. If you want a brand new tank I'd say your best option is one of these LFS.
My response was probably all over the place, let me know if I can help further.
