Is it possible to stack items just using an array?

I've been spending a long time trying to get this working and I always seem to run into a problem. I'm not even sure if it's possible to stack items into an inventory with the way I've made my game but here's what I've figured out so far:

I create an array and tiled background for the inventory. When I run into an item I pick it up and then I start a loop. The loop basically goes through each spot in the array and looks for an empty space to place the item.

Everything up to this point works great but I can't get the picked up item to recognize when I already have the same item in my inventory. I want to make it so that:

-There can be multiple stacks of an item type with a maximum amount of the item in each stack. (So if I want a stack of bullets the max in one stack can be 10)

-The picked up item goes to the smallest stack.

-Shooting a bullet, for example, will take away one item from the stack (assuming the stacked item is a bullet).

Is this even possible using just an array or am I just driving myself crazy?

https://copy.com/Tw3lYr2GlJ4AI0aj

You need some kind of means to keep track of the maximum stack amount for the items (you can save those in a dictionary for example, the dictionary can be filled at the start of your game from a text file). Other than that the array should suffice. You can also add other qualities like description etc to it.

copy.com/Tw3lYr2GlJ4AI0aj

You need some kind of means to keep track of the maximum stack amount for the items (you can save those in a dictionary for example, the dictionary can be filled at the start of your game from a text file). Other than that the array should suffice. You can also add other qualities like description etc to it.

I'll try it out thanks!