diff --git a/plugins/outputs/opentsdb/opentsdb.go b/plugins/outputs/opentsdb/opentsdb.go
index 42d6c0f3e..a0039de27 100644
--- a/plugins/outputs/opentsdb/opentsdb.go
+++ b/plugins/outputs/opentsdb/opentsdb.go
@@ -3,10 +3,8 @@ package opentsdb
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
-	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
-	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/outputs"
@@ -48,12 +46,22 @@ var sampleConfig = `
   ## Debug true - Prints OpenTSDB communication
   debug = false
 `
+type TagSet map[string]string
+
+func (t TagSet) ToLineFormat() string {
+	var line string
+	for k, v := range t {
+		line += fmt.Sprintf(" %s=%s", k, v)
+	}
+
+	return strings.TrimLeft(line, " ")
+}
 
 type MetricLine struct {
 	Metric    string
 	Timestamp int64
 	Value     string
-	Tags      string
+	Tags      TagSet
 }
 
 func (o *OpenTSDB) Connect() error {
@@ -93,6 +101,8 @@ func (o *OpenTSDB) WriteHttp(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 
 	for _, m := range metrics {
 		now := m.UnixNano() / 1000000000
+		tags := cleanTags(m.Tags())
+
 		for fieldName, value := range m.Fields() {
 			metricValue, buildError := buildValue(value)
 			if buildError != nil {
@@ -101,11 +111,11 @@ func (o *OpenTSDB) WriteHttp(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 			}
 
             metric := &HttpMetric{
-                    Metric: sanitizedChars.Replace(fmt.Sprintf("%s%s_%s",
-                            o.Prefix, m.Name(), fieldName)),
-					Tags: m.Tags(),
-					Timestamp: now,
-					Value: metricValue,
+                Metric: sanitizedChars.Replace(fmt.Sprintf("%s%s_%s",
+                        o.Prefix, m.Name(), fieldName)),
+				Tags: tags,
+				Timestamp: now,
+				Value: metricValue,
             }
 
 			if err:= http.sendDataPoint(metric); err != nil {
@@ -122,8 +132,6 @@ func (o *OpenTSDB) WriteHttp(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 }
 
 func (o *OpenTSDB) WriteTelnet(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
-	now := time.Now()
-
 	// Send Data with telnet / socket communication
 	uri := fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d", o.Host, o.Port)
 	tcpAddr, _ := net.ResolveTCPAddr("tcp", uri)
@@ -134,9 +142,20 @@ func (o *OpenTSDB) WriteTelnet(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	defer connection.Close()
 
 	for _, m := range metrics {
-		for _, metric := range buildMetrics(m, now, o.Prefix) {
+		now := m.UnixNano() / 1000000000
+		tags := cleanTags(m.Tags()).ToLineFormat()
+
+		for fieldName, value := range m.Fields() {
+			metricValue, buildError := buildValue(value)
+			if buildError != nil {
+				fmt.Printf("OpenTSDB: %s\n", buildError.Error())
+				continue
+			}
+
 			messageLine := fmt.Sprintf("put %s %v %s %s\n",
-				metric.Metric, metric.Timestamp, metric.Value, metric.Tags)
+				sanitizedChars.Replace(fmt.Sprintf("%s%s_%s",o.Prefix, m.Name(), fieldName)),
+				now, metricValue, tags)
+
 			if o.Debug {
 				fmt.Print(messageLine)
 			}
@@ -150,37 +169,12 @@ func (o *OpenTSDB) WriteTelnet(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func buildTags(mTags map[string]string) []string {
-	tags := make([]string, len(mTags))
-	index := 0
-	for k, v := range mTags {
-		tags[index] = sanitizedChars.Replace(fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", k, v))
-		index++
+func cleanTags(tags map[string]string) TagSet {
+	tagSet := make(map[string]string, len(tags))
+	for k, v := range tags {
+		tagSet[sanitizedChars.Replace(k)] = sanitizedChars.Replace(v)
 	}
-	sort.Strings(tags)
-	return tags
-}
-
-func buildMetrics(m telegraf.Metric, now time.Time, prefix string) []*MetricLine {
-	ret := []*MetricLine{}
-	for fieldName, value := range m.Fields() {
-		metric := &MetricLine{
-			Metric: sanitizedChars.Replace(fmt.Sprintf("%s%s_%s",
-				prefix, m.Name(), fieldName)),
-			Timestamp: now.Unix(),
-		}
-
-		metricValue, buildError := buildValue(value)
-		if buildError != nil {
-			fmt.Printf("OpenTSDB: %s\n", buildError.Error())
-			continue
-		}
-		metric.Value = metricValue
-		tagsSlice := buildTags(m.Tags())
-		metric.Tags = fmt.Sprint(strings.Join(tagsSlice, " "))
-		ret = append(ret, metric)
-	}
-	return ret
+	return tagSet
 }
 
 func buildValue(v interface{}) (string, error) {